Well, I fully and enthusiastically support this Bill, Dirprwy Lywydd. I believe it is overdue to end the defence of reasonable punishment and provide greater clarity by putting children on an equal footing with adults. And overdue as well to be consistent with our international obligations under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and overdue to give greater protection to our children and ensure their dignity, indeed, is properly respected and valued. 

I guess I wouldn't be alone, Dirprwy Lywydd, in seeing echoes of previous debates in the debate that we've heard today. I well remember when I went to school—and I guess there are other Members present in this Chamber today who had similar experiences—there was the cane, there was the ruler, there was the dapper, there were other implements to strike children with, and when it was proposed to abolish corporal punishment in schools, there was an outcry and many politicians made the points that I think we've heard today, that this would undermine discipline, would be counterproductive, wasn't necessary, it should be up to the schools and, indeed, public opinion to decide what happened in our schools. Now, thankfully I would say, our schools are very different places to the way that they were in those days, and I would say that change has been much for the better. Discipline is now achieved in much more positive ways.

And schools, indeed, today try to instil in their pupils a respect for other children and people in general. They're told to have kind hands, not to use physical force to try to get other children to do what they want them to do. They are taught very clearly and consistently that using physical force is wrong, bullying is wrong. As the Deputy Minister said earlier, the idea that a big person can hit a little person and that's legitimate and right is a very worrying message, I think, to give to our children when we're trying to tackle bullying in school and, indeed, bullying in general.

I must say, to me, if you allow hitting at home in the way that it is currently allowed with the defence of reasonable punishment in existence, it does undermine those messages that schools are trying to inculcate in our pupils. And I believe those messages that they send through education today are very important indeed as to the way our society in general is and the protection that not just children in schools today will have as a result, but, when they grow into adults, the protection that those adults will enjoy as well, because children will look at physical force in a very different way. 

So, to me, it is a very progressive measure. It would achieve greater consistency with our human rights obligations, the way that our schools take forward their education and teaching.