My Lords, it is late, but we need to spend a little time on this whole part of the Bill. Notwithstanding the lateness of the hour and the few Peers who are here, we should not underestimate the number of people across the country who read our deliberations and debates and use them to inform their own views and to find out where the Government and others stand. It is important that we do this.
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The Government recognise the significant safeguarding risks of age assessment being done inappropriately, using what are, frankly, untrustworthy methods or without relevant expertise. Their own Explanatory Notes reference this, saying:
“This situation carries significant safeguarding risks. An incorrect determination can result in adults being placed with or alongside children. Conversely, if a child is wrongly assessed to be an adult, they will be deprived of the statutory support owed to them.”
Noble Lords can see why this is such an important group and part of the Bill for us to discuss.
We support the concerns raised by the amendments in this group on the freedom of local authorities to use their own expertise to deliver their duties under the Children Act 1989, the changes to the standard of proof required and the need for methods of age assessment to be approved by relevant professional bodies, and we support the particularly crucial amendment to ensure that methods about which no scientific advice has been sought are not able to be used. We also support Amendment 146, in the names of my noble friend Lady Lister and the noble Baroness, Lady Neuberger, who have both spoken on that.
The British Association of Social Workers has warned of the age assessment proposals and the problems they cause. Our key concern with these clauses is that they risk violating children’s rights. These are children who have been through trauma, who may have been trafficked, and who may be on their own in the asylum system. Amendment 151C, in my name, would put in common-sense safeguards and restrictions on the use of age assessments to ensure that they do not include unverified methods which claim to be scientific and that they are carried out according to recognised standards.
I am grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Ludford, and the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, for their support for this amendment. It would require
assessments to be done only where there is significant reason to doubt the age of a person, and to be conducted by a social worker and in accordance with the existing leading guidance. It would require an age assessment to be conducted, allowing for an impartial multiagency approach, drawing on all relevant expertise, and it would prevent the Home Secretary approving scientific methods without approval from the relevant professional bodies.
If the Government are not willing to accept the amendment, will the Minister tell us which part of it he feels is not relevant to safeguarding children, considering that it would simply ensure that the process is run by those with relevant expertise and without the use of unapproved methods claiming to be scientific?