UK Borders Bill

moved Amendment No. 41: 41: After Clause 20, insert the following new Clause— ““Appeal rights In section 83(1)(b) of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (c. 41) (appeal: asylum claims) omit the words ““for a period exceeding one year (or for periods exceeding one year in aggregate)””.”” The noble Lord said: I express my appreciation at the outset to the Refugee Children’s Consortium for its insight and advice which has led me to table this amendment. I do so to press the Government on the current situation that denies many unaccompanied children a right to an appeal while they are still children. Article 2 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child requires states party to it to ““respect and ensure”” the rights enshrined in the convention, "““to each child, without discrimination of any kind””," and to ensure that a child is protected against all forms of discrimination on the basis of status, including national origin. I obviously hope that the Government intend that refugee children should not be subjected to a lower standard of justice than other children in the UK. I cannot believe that the Government intend otherwise. Section 83 prevents those granted leave for less than one year from making an appeal against the refusal of their asylum claim. Unfortunately—again, I cannot believe this was the Government’s intention—in practice, this applies disproportionately to unaccompanied children who frequently receive less than a year’s discretionary leave. Following the recent Home Office policy change, which lowered the age to which discretionary leave will be granted from 18 to 17 and a half, many more unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are going to be caught by the Section 83 provisions in the future. Currently, 46 per cent of unaccompanied children arriving in the UK are 16 or 17 years old. This amounts to some 1,500 children. As the majority are likely to be over 16 and a half by the time they receive an initial decision on their claim, they will therefore be denied access to the appellate system. Young people are of course able to make an appeal at a later stage if their application to extend their leave is refused. However, this will possibly be some years after the initial application. Such a delay can prejudice the outcome of the appeal in a number of ways. Experience suggests the following examples of how it can do so. First, when the events relevant to the appeal occurred a significant time ago it can be much harder to gather evidence either because the child finds it difficult to recollect important details or because it may be impossible to trace important witnesses. We should remember that we are dealing with children who may have been through traumatic experiences. Another significant problem is that children and young people often lose contact with their lawyers before their appeal is heard, which results in many being unrepresented at the hearing. The Refugee Children’s Consortium reports cases of children and young people in these circumstances being forced to represent themselves at appeal hearings. Finally, if the length of delay means that the young person’s appeal is heard after they become 18, this may well put them at an even greater disadvantage because children benefit from a more generous application of the merits test legal aid funding. If they are merits tested as adults, they may be denied representation at their appeal. I further believe that the proposed amendment makes sense in the light of the Government’s plans for reforming the support system for unaccompanied children. Their proposals place significant emphasis on the need to prepare young people to return to their home countries on reaching the age of 18. However, while Section 83 remains in force, it is very difficult for social workers to do this because the young people with whom they are working have not been able to bring finality to their claim; that is, a decision which includes an appeal. Without this they are likely to retain the hope that they may have the decision to refuse asylum overturned at a later stage. I hope that the Minister can respond to these anxieties. They are very genuine anxieties among those with real experience of working in the front line. I beg to move.