Smacking children – supplementary note

The Library Standard Note on “The Smacking Issue” provided background to the debate about whether parents should be allowed to smack their children, when reform of the law was under consideration in all the UK jurisdictions. This supplementary note outlines changes which have made in England (through amendment to the Bill which became the Children Act 2004), and the Government position following a review carried out in 2007. It also refers to a challenge which was made to parallel changes made in Northern Ireland.