Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

My Lords, perhaps I may start with Amendment No. 7. As the noble Baroness, Lady Morris, said, this issue has been debated by the House several times. The House therefore knows that the Border and Immigration Agency is committed to meeting fully its obligations to children within the immigration context and to working both on its own and with others to keep children safe from harm. The Border and Immigration Agency appointed Jeremy Oppenheim, formerly director of social services in Hackney, as children’s champion in spring 2006. In response to debates in this House last year, Section 21 of the UK Borders Act provides for the Secretary of State to issue a code of practice to ensure that, in exercising its functions in the United Kingdom, the Border and Immigration Agency takes all appropriate steps to keep children safe from harm. The Act also creates a requirement for the agency to follow the code of practice. The proposed code of practice, Keeping Children Safe from Harm, which I have circulated to noble Lords who have taken a keen interest in this issue, was published on 31 January. Public consultation on it has begun. I stress that the code will apply not only to Border and Immigration Agency staff, but also, in response to the debate on the UK Borders Bill last year, to its contractors when they exercise immigration agency functions and are in contact with children who are in the United Kingdom. It will apply whether that contact is in person or indirect—for instance, making a decision on papers that has an impact on a child. The issue before us, therefore, is not whether we are committed to safeguarding children in the immigration and asylum system—the BIA is fully committed to that task—but the best means of doing so. Amendment No. 7 would extend the duty in Section 11 of the Children Act 2004 to the Border and Immigration Agency. In so far as the purpose of Section 11 is to ensure that children are kept safe from harm and are properly protected, the BIA takes its responsibilities seriously; hence the proposed code of practice and the machinery to enforce it. However, our concern is that applying the general terms of Section 11 to the BIA would have a side effect highly detrimental to the public interest; namely, that it would give a further legal basis for litigation to prevent the implementation of immigration decisions over and above the extensive litigation that already takes place in this area. This aspect marks out the BIA from the other agencies mentioned by the noble Baroness, Lady Morris. I reiterate that the code of practice will bring the benefits that would arise from extending the Section 11 duty in respect of child protection while avoiding the serious risk of an increase in legal challenges to removal decisions. In developing the code, we have worked with important groups such as the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, the Children’s Commissioner, officials in the devolved Administrations, the Children’s Society and Barnardo’s. The BIA is also consulting widely on the content of the code and is actively seeking the views of NGOs and professionals with experience in children and their welfare. The requirements of the code could not be clearer or more robust. Perhaps I may quote from page 7, which states that, "““the staff of the Agency must act in accordance with the following key requirement: that due consideration be given to the wishes and feelings of the child, parents, or any person with parental responsibility for the child, or whose views in caring for the child would normally be considered relevant. Partnership with the parents and consultation with the child should be the norm whenever a family are being required to comply with the immigration laws””." Page 8 states that, "““the Code recognises that the Border and Immigration Agency will keep children safe from harm by acting on our concerns about the safety of any child which, in the course of our dealings, appears to be at risk and referring to outside statutory and professional agencies where appropriate. This referral to outside agencies where aspects of protection are involved is an important part of the Border and Immigration Agency’s approach””." The code is not a document without teeth. There are new, strong training and inspection arrangements to back it up. On inspection, Section 48 of the UK Borders Act created the role of chief inspector of the agency and sets out the chief inspector’s review and inspection functions in respect of the BIA. The chief inspector will have an active role to play in reviewing the agency’s implementation of the code and, crucially, its performance in relation to children. All Border and Immigration Agency staff are currently receiving training on child awareness issues to keep children safe from harm, with two further, more intensive levels of training aimed at those staff members whose work directly affects children. Jeremy Oppenheim, who is overseeing this training work, takes his responsibilities very seriously indeed.