UK Borders Bill

I shall respond to the points made in this very important debate. I cannot resist commenting on the notion that the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, should be considered bland in facial recognition terms. I have never thought that she was bland, and she certainly is not in personality. It would be a travesty if that was ever thought to be the case. I should apologise for the technology; it seems fairly disgraceful in those terms. The noble Lord, Lord Avebury, asked about the biometric information heading. It is an integral part of these provisions that a person subject to immigration control registers their biometrics. That is what frames the debate and the legislation. Amendment No. 13ZA would prevent the Secretary of State from requiring a person subject to immigration control who is under 16 to apply for a biometric immigration document. When a person is granted leave to enter or remain in the UK, whether a child or an adult, they are currently issued with an immigration document which demonstrates their right to be in the United Kingdom. The intention behind the biometric immigration document is to phase out the less secure forms of documents to replace them with a reliable biometric document. This amendment would mean that the documents provided to children would be less secure and hence less trusted. In the near future it will also be contrary to our European obligations if a biometric card is not issued to those under 16 years of age who are granted leave to remain in the United Kingdom, as EC law will require this. In our view taking biometrics from children is a positive factor in combating their trafficking and exploitation through making identification more certain and secure. We need to be able to fix children to a single identity to make them less attractive to those who wish to exploit them. This will reduce the risk of a child being passed off as someone else’s child in that exercise. The Border and Immigration Agency has experience over many years of taking fingerprints from children aged five and upwards without difficulty or, for that matter, without public concern. Fingerprint patterns do not change as a child grows older, and the technology is capable of recognising images taken from a person at a relatively young age. We already record and check the fingerprints of children requiring biometric visas and the children of asylum seekers issued with application registration cards—ARCs as they are often know. From 2002 to 2006, the Border and Immigration Agency issued some 39,401 application registration cards to children aged between five and 16. Biometric data collection technology is being rolled out to all our overseas posts and the offices of our commercial partners. UKvisas has already collected biometric data, as part of the visa application process, from 5,679 children aged five to 16 between September 2006 and the end of April 2007. That number will increase as the number of overseas posts able to issue biometric enabled visas increases during this year. I turn to our commitments in the European Union. In 2003, the United Kingdom signed up to Council Regulation (EC) No. 1030/2002 of 13 June 2002—laying down a uniform format for residence permits for third-country nationals—which requires a standard residence permit to be issued to anyone, including a child, authorised to stay in a member state. A forthcoming European regulation will require the UK to issue a biometric card containing fingerprints and a photograph when it authorises a person to stay in the UK. The biometric immigration document will be how the UK complies with this obligation. It will be issued to those aged under 16 as the authorisation which permits them to be in the UK. Discussions are continuing in the EU on what age children should have their fingerprints recorded—and I think that the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, referred to that debate. However, there appears to be a consensus in the European Council that the fingerprints of children will be recorded from at least six years of age. Clause 6(3) provides safeguards by requiring any regulation made under these provisions which relate to those aged under 16 to make provisions similar to Section 141(3) to (5) and (13) of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999; that is about fingerprinting children. Staff dealing with children and young people will have to receive relevant training and will be obliged to conform to guidance to enable them to do so sensitively. Biometric immigration documents issued to children aged under 16 will not be designated under the Identity Cards Act 2006. We consider that 16 years is an appropriate level to set as the first age where an individual is eligible for an identity card and registration on the national identity register. Unlike immigration documents, which are required by both children and adults, identity documentation is, in most cases, first required when individuals become economically active; that is, have the right to leave school, marry, start work and open their own bank account. Biometric immigration documents issued to children aged under 16 will expire after five years or when their leave expires, whichever is sooner. I hope that that answers most of the points raised. Of the others, I think that the most important one is the reliability and viability of biometric fingerprint technology. What can I say about that? Biometric fingerprint technology is used worldwide and is recognised as a secure form of matching identities. We have a lot of experience of using fingerprint biometric technology on children as young as five. Fingerprint patterns and characteristics do not change as a child grows older, and the technology is capable of recognising images taken from a person at a young age. The biometric immigration documents issued to children under 16 will expire in no later than five years. We will need at that point to update facial images, just as we currently do for passports. As part of the process, we will update any other biometric and non-biometric information as required. I think it was the noble Earl, Lord Listowel, and the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, who asked what progress we were making on establishing age assessment centres. I do not have that information today, but I undertake to correspond with noble Lords on that point and to share the fruits of that correspondence with all colleagues in Committee. The noble Lord, Lord Avebury, asked whether the points raised in debate on Monday will be responded to quickly. I have signed off the correspondence this afternoon. If the noble Lord likes, I could ask someone to collect it and deliver it to those Members in Committee who want it this afternoon if that would help them, although I think that our debates have moved on a bit from some of those issues. Why fingerprints? They are widely used across the world. I have explained about expiry, and the software cost of procurement is already accounted for. We already have considerable experience of using biometrics with children. This makes a lot of sense, and it offers important protection, enabling us to help those young persons who we think are at greater risk of abuse and exploitation through trafficking. There are many plus points in approaching the age at which we require biometrics, and those benefits will become manifest as this develops.