David Hinchliffe's Bill

(Photograph) - Labour MP David Hinchliffe last week introduced a Bill to amend the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 and outlaw the defence of 'reasonable chastisement' for smacking children. Mr Hinchliffe, chair of the health select committee, said 'the time was right to change the law' in the light of the report into the death of Victoria Climbie and the Government's Green Paper, Every Child Matters. The move was welcomed by the NSPCC, whose spokeswoman, Liz Atkins, said, 'Children are less protected from being hit than anyone else in society, even though they are the smallest and most vulnerable.'