Smacking still legal, parents told

The law remains unchanged for England and Wales

Health Minister Jacqui Smith has defended the decision not to introduce a new law to prohibit the smacking of children in England and Wales.

She said a total ban would not help people to become better parents, and said 70% of people who were consulted supported the status quo.

The decision followed a nationwide consultation, ordered after a 1998 European Court of Human Rights ruling that Britain had failed to protect a boy whose stepfather beat him with a cane.

Our evidence from working with parents is that most parents don't like smacking, they just don't know what else to do

Save the Children

But children's rights organisations have condemned the move, with the NSPCC saying it was tantamount to declaring "open season on hitting babies and toddlers".

Ms Smith denied the government's decision - to be formally announced later on Thursday - would mean a "free-for-all".

She told GMTV on Thursday: "I have got to set the sort of legal framework that people have confidence in, that we can enforce, that protects children from abuse but that recognises that parenting is difficult.

"I am not convinced that banning smacking actually helps us to be better parents."

But Save the Children spokeswoman Kate Harper said more than 300 British organisations had lobbied ministers for a change in the law.

'No need to smack'

Speaking on BBC Breakfast News she said it was not clear what was "reasonable" and that the courts could not prevent violence against children.

"It isn't necessary to smack and our evidence from working with parents is that most parents don't like smacking, they just don't know what else to do," she said.

Jacqui Smith: No public support for a change in the law

NSPCC director Mary Marsh said the idea that smacking was acceptable was "Dickensian".

She said: "It is scandalous that the government has ignored the view of virtually every child protection and health professional in the country.

"Children should enjoy the same legal protection from being hit as that afforded to adults."

Ferris Lindsay, of pressure group Friends of the Family, welcomed the government's decision and said children in loving families could "benefit greatly" from smacking if it was coupled with "verbal correction".

'Reasonable chastisement'

British parents are allowed to use what the law calls reasonable chastisement when punishing their children.

The problem is defining what is reasonable - in the above case, an English court decided a man was entitled to beat his nine-year-old stepson with a cane.

Any further change to the law... would neither command widespread public support nor be capable of consistent enforcement

Health minister Jacqui Smith

But the European Court of Human Rights ruled that UK law had failed to protect the boy from inhuman and degrading treatment.

Since then the Human Rights Act has come into force in the UK, which ministers at the Department of Health argue has given children the extra safeguards they need.

Support for parents

There will now be extra funding for projects to develop what the government has called "positive parenting", where parents are encouraged to discipline children without the use of force.

This was welcomed by the National Family and Parenting Institute charity, which plans to set up a parenting support project.

"We know that parents want more help in what is often the biggest challenge of their lives - bringing up their children to be happy, secure adults," said Mary MacLeod, NFPI chief executive.

"The NFPI is committed to ensuring that all parents have access to the support that they need, and that they get practical advice that can make a real difference to their family relationships."