UK Borders Bill

I strongly support the amendment in that it provides reassurance that these powers will be used with the correct discretion. Can the Minister say whether there will be a lead immigration officer in each smaller area with special expertise in child protection and an understanding of the needs of children so that he can support his fellow colleagues when implementing these sorts of powers? Can he give some information on what sort of training on the needs of children will be available to immigration officers when they use these new stronger powers? There is some parallel with examples in other parts of government policy of spreading power from one body of professionals to another body of professionals or non-professionals; for example, police and community support officers, midwives and paramidwives and teachers and teaching assistants. There are benefits in that policy but, in practice, it is often found that problems arise unless it is implemented well. For instance, there has been considerable concern that teaching assistants have not had the right training to work with children with special needs and, in some areas, there has been concern that community support officers are not getting the right mentoring when they first enter practice. I shall not go on but perhaps the Minister will acknowledge that, when one spreads powers in this way, careful attention needs to be paid to implementation so that there is no poor execution.