Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill

The noble Earl, Lord Listowel, was absolutely right to move Amendment No. 66 at this stage. I declare an unpaid personal interest as a trustee of UNICEF UK, whose work focuses on children’s rights and welfare. I would welcome from the Minister a progress report on the pilots. As the noble Earl said, it is important to know what the process of evaluation is, what stage we have reached and when that period is likely to end. At what stage will information be available to other people for their consideration? We need to know what role this House may play in debates on those matters. This is a very valuable opportunity to discuss the issue. Other noble Lords have commented on how vexed the issue was when it was raised during debates on the 2004 Act. The noble Earl quoted the Minister in another place as commenting that it was the fault of the parents. Well, yes, it is the parents’ fault but it is not the fault of the child. That is how our arguments were focused when the matter was debated in 2004. Can the noble Baroness put on the record how the Government believe the measure complies with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child? That would help our consideration of those matters. I wish to comment also on Amendment No. 67, in the name of the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich. I am very grateful to the Refugee Children’s Consortium for its briefings and to BID, which has performed a very valuable service. There are always instances where detainees for whom English is not their first language know little or nothing about the judicial procedures here. I certainly sympathise with how the noble Earl presented his case. He said that automatic bail hearings were perhaps the only way of ensuring fairness in the system. On the other hand, I also welcome Clause 45, on the inspection of detention facilities. I would be interested to hear how the Minister feels that might ameliorate detainees’ current position of uncertainty and ignorance—I use that word in a factual rather than a pejorative sense—of their rights. There are perhaps ways in which Clause 45 could give some, but not total, reassurance on bail problems. I know that the hour is late. Members of the Committee will wish to return to this on Report. It is right that we should be able to have this matter aired in Grand Committee. I hope that the noble Baroness will be able to give us a good progress report on Amendment No. 66 and some pointers as regards Amendments No. 67. I know that the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, hopes that his amendment might be superior to that of his noble friend. I have to disappoint him because I rather prefer that proposed by the noble Earl, Lord Sandwich.