That is absolutely right. It is very difficult to replace documents, and many people come here without any documents. We are relying on the timescales of high commissions and embassies in various EU countries, and it is not exactly a priority of social workers, who are snowed under with all the other safeguarding work they have to do.
This is a really important amendment. Interestingly, there was a judgment by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman against Liverpool Council. A care leaver complained that the council had failed to regularise his immigration status and failed to secure him British citizenship and a passport, which meant he could not travel or work. That complaint was upheld. The Government did not vote against the amendment in the Lords, so what has changed between then and tonight? This is a great opportunity for the Government to show why such a provision is necessary, without adding a single additional person to the immigration figures, if that is what they are actually worried about.
7.45 pm
Given events of recent days and weeks, Lords amendment 4 on family reunion is more necessary than ever. It was strongly supported in the Lords, by 317 votes to 223. Many Members, including me, supported the same amendment in the Commons. We were told before that there was no need to put such amendments in Brexit legislation, as it would bind the hands of the negotiators. Then we were told in June that we could leave it to the negotiators and it would be part of negotiations, despite the fact that in May the Government produced a Command Paper which removed all the mandatory requirements on the Government to facilitate family reunions and will make a child’s right to join their relatives entirely discretionary. The text of the Command Paper intentionally avoids providing rights to children, has no appeal process and attempts to be beyond the reach of the UK courts.
As we have heard, before the mandatory Dublin III provisions were brought in, just 11 children per year came to this country under the scheme. Since 2016, the average number rescued—because that is what they are—has been over 500. It worked well, so we need a mandatory scheme, but there is no mandatory scheme
up for negotiation. A new agreement with the EU to replace Dublin III is not under discussion in the negotiations and has not been for some time, as the EU has no mandate for member states—and of course, as of last week, there are no negotiations. We are at risk of leaving a large vacuum.
We need a scheme that is as good as Dublin III. The Minister says that we will use the UK scheme available for reuniting families from the rest of the world, but the UK scheme is restricted to unaccompanied children joining parents. If a child has fled Syria because their parents have been killed, they have no parents, so they would not qualify. A brother, sister or uncle who happens to be in the UK may be the only surviving relative of some of these kids. The UK scheme as it stands, without a replacement for Dublin III, would ignore all those children.