UK Borders Bill

I am grateful to the Committee for working in the way it has; it enables us to bracket these matters together and, as we do not vote in Grand Committee, the issue of pre-emption is not so overbearing. In any event, we will not accept any of the amendments, so that certainly does not apply. However, it enables me to address all the issues in one place and I shall go through them. I appreciate the sensitivity of the issues and understand the concerns that have been raised as part of the discussion. At the outset, I should explain our thinking behind Clause 16, which is designed to allow the Border and Immigration Agency to monitor and maintain contact with certain individuals who have been granted limited leave to remain; that is its primary purpose. Our aim is to keep in touch with individuals in whom we have an interest in monitoring more closely. We will grant leave with reporting and/or residency conditions only where this is justified by a need for close monitoring of an individual. We want to be able to apply the clause to minors with a view to improving child protection. The noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, made reference to children who go missing from care. The example which is often introduced in our debates is of young people going missing from the care of West Sussex social services, with truly dreadful consequences. We are very exercised by that; we do not want young people in a vulnerable position to be removed from care and trafficked. We do not want them to become involved in that; it cannot be in their interests and it cannot be in society’s interests. So there is good reason for us to improve child protection and we believe that good and close monitoring will help us to achieve that highly desirable objective.