UK Borders Bill

I am grateful to the Minister for agreeing to do that. We have had some very helpful responses from him, although he said no to my amendment. However, we have made some progress. I am grateful to my noble friend Lady Carnegy for raising the Scottish questions. It is important to have that on the record. My colleagues in another place will want to look at the Minister's responses before considering whether any relevant amendments might be appropriate at Report. That was a very interesting response. On child protection, the noble Earl, Lord Listowel, asked a question about responsibility which I did not hear the Minister answer. wish to do so under my Amendment No. 13. He asked whether there would be a lead immigration officer on child protection. I know that the Minister was thinking in terms of Clauses 1 to 4 only, but the noble Earl's question is relevant to Amendment No. 13, which addresses how an immigration agency operates overall. The noble Earl has made an important point. The noble Lord, Lord Hylton, in supporting my amendment in principle, quite correctly, holed it below the waterline. I entirely agree with him, which means I have to agree with the Minister, which is worse—it is easier to agree with the noble Lord, Lord Hylton. Regulations would be over-prescriptive and would over-fetter. One needs something more flexible—the Government’s word—and the Minister is right to say that to come back to Parliament for a statutory instrument for each and every small regulation change would not be good practice. I was grateful to hear him say that details could be made available as and when guidelines and training are developed. Is he able to say today whether that is likely to be in time for Report, which will not be until October in this House? He might want to reflect on that, but it would mean that we might have an opportunity to consider them when we debate the matter in October. That could be considered in the Summer Recess.