A top paediatrician has backed an MP’s plans to introduce a smacking ban in England, saying it puts children at risk of ‘really significant physical harm’.
The Children’s Act 2004 made it unlawful for a parent or carer to hit their child – but made an exception for ‘reasonable punishment’.
Professionals judge whether that excuse applies on a case by case basis, leading to some uncertainty in certain situations.
The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) said in April last year that England should join Scotland and Wales in explicitly banning the smacking of children in all circumstances.
Since then, Labour MP Jess Asato has proposed an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill which would remove the ‘reasonable punishment’ defence.
Professor Andrew Rowland, the officer for child protection at RCPCH, said the College would ‘like to see [the amendment] passed’.
The consultant paediatrician added: ‘The best scientific evidence I’ve got is that physical punishment of children undoubtedly harms children’s health on a population basis.
‘It harms their physical health, places them at increased risk of serious physical assault, it harms their mental health and it harms their emotional health and their wellbeing – all of that is shown in robust scientific evidence.
‘There have been no robust scientific studies that have shown that physical punishment of children has any positive effect.’
He described the current law as ‘Victorian-era’, saying: ‘That defence of reasonable punishment of children in England has been around since 1860.’
Speaking to Metro, Jess Asato said her amendment was not about ‘criminalising parents’.
She said: ‘It is about saying that there is no defence to assault or battery of a child, through what is called the reasonable chastisement defence.
‘We already say to parents that you shouldn’t be beating your children, but they have a defence in law. What we’re doing is removing that.’
The Lowestoft MP added: ‘Parents have a range of methods open to them to discipline their children, but we believe that violence against their children should not be one of them.
‘And many, many parents do use positive parenting techniques. We just want to take physical punishment out of the parenting toolbox, and then make sure that there is support for parents.’
In February, school standards minister Catherine McKinnell told MPs the government does ‘not intend to legislate on the defence at this stage’, and said they will wait for a review into the effects of the ban implemented in Wales in 2022.
But Asato said the evidence on the issue is ‘really very, very clear’ already, citing figures from Germany that suggested the number of young people who had been beaten fell from 30% in 1992 to 3% ten years later, after a ban was introduced.
She added: ‘We don’t think that we should wait any longer. Children deserve to have equal protection from assault.
‘At the moment, adults have more protection from assault than children do, and that is a state of affairs that we can’t keep going.’
Lynn Perry, the chief executive of children’s charity Barnardo’s, echoed the MP’s concerns that children had less legal protection against assault than older people.
She said: ‘At Barnardo’s, we see firsthand how vital it is for children to feel safe and nurtured by those around them, and to develop positive, healthy relationships.
‘We’ve long campaigned for a change in the law to give equal protection for children from assault and continue to call for action.’
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