Parents in England should be trusted to make their own decisions about whether to smack their children. Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said he did not believe the state should be “nannying” parents about the way they bring up their children.
He rejected a call from the Children’s Commissioner for England for a ban on smacking children, saying mothers and fathers are “entitled” to be able to discipline their youngsters. Dame Rachel de Souza had earlier told Times Radio she would be “supportive” if the Government decided to follow Scotland and Wales in banning physical punishment of children, suggesting it is something that should be considered in England.
But Mr Zahawi responded: "My very strong view is that actually we have got to trust parents on this, and parents being able to discipline their children is something that they should be entitled to do. We have got to just make sure we don’t end up in a world where the state is nannying people about how they bring up their children.”
Wales last month made any type of corporal punishment, including smacking, hitting, slapping and shaking, illegal in the country. Scotland had introduced a similar ban in November 2020.
Dame Rachel had called on ministers to investigate how the legislation moved through the Welsh assembly and said she would support a decision to follow suit. She said: "Scotland and Wales have done this (banned the physical punishment of children). So we’ve learnt a lot about what that would mean, as it goes into legislation.
“I think we’ve got a great opportunity to look, watch it, as it’s embedded (in Wales), and I would be supportive — certainly, from what I’ve seen so far — I would be supportive if our Government decided to do the same.”
Dame Rachel agreed that “protections” for children are already “enshrined in law” in England, but she backed the actions of the Scottish and Welsh governments, adding: “It’s certainly something that I think we should consider.”
The “smacking ban”, as it is known, was brought in under the Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Act 2020 and marks the end of the common law defence of “reasonable punishment”. Parents or anyone who is responsible for a child while the parents are absent can now face criminal or civil charges if they are found to have physically disciplined a young person in any way.
A survey commissioned by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children found more than two-thirds of adults in England believe it is wrong for parents or carers to physically punish their child, with 58 per cent thinking it was already illegal.
For more stories from where you live, visit InYourArea.
