My Lords, I shall speak to Amendments 59B, 61A, 64B, 66A and 79C in my name.
Amendments 61A and 66A would ensure that, if children are to be detained or held in temporary accommodation before they are placed with a local authority, there are basic standards in the Bill to ensure that the type of accommodation is suitable, along with the services and standards that are needed to ensure that the best interests and the welfare of the child are paramount, and that the provisions are exactly the same as in the Children Act 1989.
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Amendments 59B and 64B would ensure that the regulations about detention or the holding accommodation of children are made not by the Home Secretary but by the Secretary of State for Education, whose department has a far better understanding of the Children Act and what it means to put the interest of the child first. Because of this I have also tabled Amendment 79C, which would ensure that until such time as a young person is allocated to a local authority’s care, the department that understands fully the details of the Children Act, the Secretary of State for Education’s, is responsible for the welfare of children in the holding accommodation.
I will explain the rationale for these amendments. It is clear from what has been happening to young children seeking asylum who have been held in hotels that the Home Office has no idea what to do to put the interest or welfare of the child first. The Home Office seems, at best, not to have a detailed understanding of the provisions of the Children Act 1989. At worst, it ignores certain provisions of the Act and has no regard for putting the interests and welfare of the child first and central to its policy of temporarily holding children. What we have seen happening to some of the young people housed in these Home Office temporary hotels is nothing less than a national scandal and a disgrace.
Since summer 2020, unaccompanied children seeking asylum on arrival in England have had their rights systematically breached by the Home Office and have been denied the full protections they should have been afforded under the Children Act 1989. Their needs have not been assessed and they have been unlawfully denied the care of local authorities for unlimited periods of time. Instead, they have been placed in Home Office hotels, many of which are unsuitable, are out of reach of the standards laid down in Section 22 of the Children Act and house vulnerable children alongside adults. Many children have gone missing. I eventually got the Minister to answer from the Dispatch Box that 200 children were still missing. Some of these have been well documented; reports from Greater Manchester Police have indicated that children who have been scooped up have been found in Greater Manchester, used by drug gangs and trafficked for sex. Yet in the Home Office Answers to Written and Oral Questions in this House, it is in total denial about what is happening
and refuses to accept that it has evidence from police, such as Greater Manchester Police, about the plight of some of these vulnerable children.
That is why these amendments have to be accepted. To be blunt, if they are not, these vulnerable children will still go missing and will not have the standards that every child in this country should have; the needs of the child will not be paramount.
Amendment 79C would ensure that the Secretary of State for Education is responsible for the temporary care of a child from the moment they arrive here and would be responsible for them until they are placed with a local authority. As I indicated earlier, this is far more desirable—not perfect, but more desirable—than the Home Office having responsibility. The Department for Education has years of experience in dealing with these vulnerable children through close-working liaison with local authorities and issuing detailed guidance for unaccompanied children seeking asylum. This amendment would help to ensure that the interests of the child are put first the moment they step into the country.
Amendments 59B and 64B are in the same vein. The Department for Education fully understands the law and nuances of the Children Act, and the rights and obligations to children to ensure that their interests and welfare are put first. It is therefore appropriate that the Secretary of State for Education, and not the Home Office, issues such regulations under Clause 10.
Finally, Amendments 61A and 66A would ensure that unaccompanied children seeking asylum would not be dumped in unsuitable accommodation, as we are seeing at present, but would have afforded to them the same standards and provisions that are in Section 22 of the Children Act 1989. Section 22(3) sets out the general duties of the local authority looking after a child to safeguard and promote their welfare. This duty underpins all activity by the local authority in relation to looked-after children and has become known as “corporate parenting”. In simple terms, corporate parenting means the collective responsibility of the council, elected members, employees and partner agencies for providing the best possible care and safeguarding for the children who are looked after by the council.
My amendments would mean that those same provisions would apply to children who are not in local authority care but in temporary accommodation that the Home Office has given—that the corporate parenting responsibility would be for the Secretary of State for Education. That includes an assessment of the suitability of the accommodation required for each individual child. Amendments 61A and 66A would confer the same responsibilities and duties on to the Secretary of State for Education the moment the child enters the country, until such time as they are placed with a local authority.
The welfare and care of unaccompanied children seeking asylum is paramount. They should have the full protections of the Children Act 1989 from the moment they reach our shores. These amendments will ensure that the rights of the child are paramount if the Home Office insists on detaining a child or putting them into temporary accommodation before
they are in the care of a local authority. I believe it is paramount that this is in the Bill. The rights of the child and the Children Act 1989 are absolutely key to protect vulnerable children who are seeking asylum. That is why I tabled these amendments.