What assessment has the Minister made of whether the number of children being abused by smacking has changed significantly since the Children (Abolition of Defence of Reasonable Punishment) (Wales) Act 2020?
Effective data collection and monitoring will help us to assess the effect of the Act, including through the post implementation reviews required under the legislation.
While the initial research findings and data are encouraging, it is too early to properly assess whether there has been a significant change in the use of physical punishment since the Act came into force on 21 March 2022.
Research on public attitudes to physical punishment provides a snapshot of views up to March 2022, just before the law came into force. It shows 71% of parents/carers of children aged seven and under disagreed that it was sometimes necessary to smack a child compared to 63% surveyed in 2021.
The report also found that since 2018, there had been an increase in support for the law, with 59% of respondents reporting they were in favour of the law change compared to 38% in 2018.
The first data release providing monitoring information on the Act shows the number of cases referred to the Crown Prosecution Service between 21 March 2022 and 30 September 2022 was fewer than five and between 21 March 2022 and 30 September 2022, there were 55 referrals for out of court parenting support across Wales by the police. Of the 55 referrals, 55 people chose to take up the offer of parenting support.