UK Borders Bill

My point about age was that we now have arguments about whether a child is over or under the age of 18, but we could be having similar arguments about whether a child is over or under the age that is specified as the minimum for taking fingerprints. A child has to have a BID, as I understand the Minister, if the child is over five or six. Equally, there could be arguments about whether the age of the child is accurately claimed by the parent or guardian. They want to subject this five or six year-old child to the sort of procedures that are now in contemplation for determining whether a child is over or under the age of 18. I hope that is not true, but it is one possibility that is raised by having a very low minimum age at which a child would have to register to get a BID. We are grateful to the Minister for promising to look further into these matters for us. I do not think that it would be sensible for us to pursue these questions any further at this stage. In conclusion, it would be a very good idea if those who are developing these systems in the Home Office would liaise closely with the Government’s anti-trafficking organisation, which was prominently referred to in the debate that the noble Lord praised. There are, as he rightly pointed out at the beginning of his remarks, some important implications in what we are doing here for what may be developed under the anti-trafficking strategy. I do not think that I need to ask the noble Lord to give me that assurance, as I am sure that it follows without saying that the BID development team will be working closely with those concerned with the anti-trafficking strategy.