Ms Deirdre Pemberton:

I will address the points raised about accredited bodies and expertise in adoption. My observations on expertise are that within the agencies there is a history of expertise and knowledge on adoption. I accept that within different teams and agencies there are different levels of experience among the social workers, but the agency holds quite significant expertise and that must be recognised. We are more than happy to work with that.

I thank people for recognising the role of accredited bodies which, as we have noted, appears to have been airbrushed out a little or is not recognised strongly enough. It would be great if there could be a means of ensuring we are included in that.

I also welcome the comments on funding and the recognition that a massive amount of funding is required. I share everybody's concerns about how much this will cost and where it will come from. That must be thoroughly explored.