UK Borders Bill

My Lords, the Minister has confirmed my worst fears; that he is going to disregard all professional opinion on this matter. I am delighted that the noble Lord, Lord Winston, intervened, because he brings a high degree of professional expertise to bear on the question of the use of ionising radiation for non-clinical purposes. If the Minister asked the same question of the BMA, the BDA, the royal colleges, particularly the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, he would have had the same reaction that we have heard from the noble Lord, Lord Winston, this afternoon. I can only take it from the reply that we heard this afternoon that it is the Government’s intention to ignore all professional opinion that disagrees with their point of view. The noble Lord said that the use of dental X-rays is in fact essential to the process of age determination, which means that it will be used whatever the experts tell them. I deny that dental X-rays are necessary. Has the Minister read the report by Dr Heaven Crawley, to which I referred him when we discussed this in Grand Committee? I take it from the expression on his face that he has not read the report, which is an extremely thorough analysis not only of the use of X-rays but of other methods of age determination that have been found to be fully effective, particularly those developed by the London boroughs of Merton and Croydon, which have been approved in our courts of law as being fully effective. The noble Lord is absolutely wrong to say that the denial of the use of dental X-rays is going to inhibit or damage in any way the process of immigration control. I shall return to this subject again as frequently as I can, and I would press the amendment to a Division this evening were it not so late in the afternoon. It is the most disappointing reply that I have heard from the Minister in the whole course of these proceedings, and that is saying something. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.