UK Borders Bill

moved Amendment No. 21A: 21A: Clause 7, page 5, line 33, at end insert— ““(3) The regulations may also permit the Secretary of State to designate an adult as the person responsible for ensuring that a child complies with requirements of the regulations; and for that purpose— (a) ““adult”” means an individual who has attained the age of 18, (b) ““child”” means an individual who has not attained the age of 18, and (c) sections 9 to 13 shall apply (with any necessary modifications) to a designated adult’s failure to ensure compliance by a child with a requirement of regulations as they apply to a person’s own failure to comply with a requirement.”” The noble Lord said: This amendment is necessary to ensure that we are able to enforce compliance with the requirement that children coming to the United Kingdom apply for a biometric immigration document. The Government believe that it is just as important to ensure that children have secure documents as evidence of their immigration status as adults. One of the many objectives for the registration of biometrics is to assist our law enforcement activities against human trafficking and exploitation. We had a significant debate on that only last week, led by noble Lords from the opposition parties. It was very helpful indeed. Enforcement was one of the issues that arose in that debate. We want to tackle the problem head on, and have stated our clear commitment to dealing with matters such as human trafficking, particularly of children who can be smuggled into the United Kingdom and wilfully exploited, sometimes through the confusion that can be created around a child’s identity. As a matter of policy, we would not want to issue penalty notices against children who are unable or unwilling to comply with a requirement of the legislation. It is therefore right that a responsible adult is held accountable for the non-compliance of a child in their care. The amendment is also comparable to a provision in the Identity Cards Act that would enable the Secretary of State to designate certain adults to assume responsibility for the obligations imposed on children under the Act, should regulations be made to lower the minimum age for registration on the national identity register to children under 16. I beg to move.