Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

My Lords, I support Amendment No. 7. In the letter of 25 February from the children’s champion of the BIA, to which the noble Baroness, Lady Morris, referred, Mr Oppenheim referred to the agency, "““taking a proactive approach to protect children from harm””." I am afraid that this phrase, which has been consistently used by the Government when promoting the new code of practice, is taking a negative attitude to the matter of children’s welfare. Protecting a child from harm is not the same as promoting his welfare. If you take the child’s survival without undue harm as being represented by zero on a scale, harm would be -1, -2, -3 et cetera. But actively promoted welfare would put the child up to +1, +2, +3 et cetera. In other words, the child being well, happy and successful, rather than just not suffering harm, is a plus on the scale. I am sure that that is what the noble Baroness, Lady Morris, and all of us in this House want. I was most concerned to read in a Children’s Society report on 13 February about the shocking plight of some asylum seeker and refugee families in the West Midlands who are living without heating, electricity or access to food. In one case, a family of six were living in a single room. That is not promoting the welfare of children and it has to stop. Amendment No. 8 concerns a population of children which somewhat overlaps the population about which the noble Baroness, Lady Morris, has just spoken. These are unaccompanied children who are seeking asylum or who have been identified as having been the victims of trafficking. The amendment seeks to ensure that they have a guardian, who is preferably appointed by an independent body. Since we debated this amendment in Grand Committee the Children’s Commissioner for England has carried out an investigation into how such children are treated in the London Borough of Hillingdon, the borough nearest to Heathrow, which therefore carries an enormous burden in this respect. As part of this report, issues about the lack of resources provided to the borough by the Government were uncovered, as were a number of issues about the understanding of the powers of the commissioner. However, I do not intend to major on that today, although it would be an important subject for a debate at another time. What I would like to point out is that the commissioner’s conclusion was that these children should have a guardian appointed for them, preferably by an independent body. That is exactly what my amendment would do and I am delighted to have the commissioner’s support for it. He found that unaccompanied asylum seeking children had little understanding of what it means to be looked after, the responsibilities of the local authority or their own rights, while some did not seem to have a social worker, and that many of those who had one did not know who she was. His report states: "““The views of the children and the file reviews of this group of children once again indicate the pressing need for children to have guardians. These guardians should remain in regular contact with the child throughout their application for asylum and until a final determination is made””." I would stress that this person should not only assist the child to get through the legal system and make sure that he understands what is going on—now that children under the age of 12 are being interviewed, that is all the more important—but ensure that the child’s welfare in all matters is undertaken properly. In our debate in Grand Committee the Minister misunderstood me in a reference I made to CAFCASS. He may have thought that I had claimed that unaccompanied children have no access to CAFCASS if their case should come before the family courts. Of course I accept that they do, but I was actually making the point that unaccompanied asylum seeking children have no access to an equivalent source of help when their case comes before the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal. The Government have repeatedly pointed to the Refugee Council Children’s Panel as a solution to this problem. I can tell the Minister that the council does not have adequate resources to meet all these needs. I quote Liz Barratt, a solicitor at Bindman and Partners, who says: "““The panel simply does not have the resources to allocate an individual adviser to each unaccompanied or separated child referred to it, and therefore it is not true to say that it provides those children with representation. It cannot even allocate an adviser to all such children under 15 as it used to … I think they are overwhelmed””." These are the most vulnerable children and our system is failing them. A guardian would be able to help, and I do hope that the Government will think again.