Children Bill: Information database clause holds up debate

Shadow minister for children Tim Loughton said: "We really got nowhere on clause nine (on information databases) so we voted against the whole thing, but we were defeated."

Annette Brooke, the Liberal Democrat spokeswoman for children and young people, put forward an amendment to delete a clause that allows professionals to note a "cause for concern" on the database, but this was not accepted.

Pat Thompson, parliamentary adviser at Barnardo's, said: "We are disappointed the Government did not move on this. 'Cause for concern' is not a common standard, nor is it understood by the caring professions."

Loughton said he would return to the issue of the database when the bill is read for a third time in the House of Commons next week, but he expects that debate to be dominated by the issue of smacking.