My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness for moving her amendment. I will speak to my amendments as well. I begin by joining others in paying tribute to the noble and learned Baroness and to my noble friend Lord McColl for eventually securing the amendments that they are looking for. I am grateful that we have been able to do that.
A hallmark of the way in which this Bill has gone through is that it has drawn upon the incredible level of expertise in your Lordships’ House in these particular areas. We have tried to distil that into strengthening the Bill, which enjoys cross-party support and which we all want to see passed. That expertise is also reflected in the 23 amendments that the Government tabled in Committee and by the further 72 amendments, 27 of which we will be considering on the second day of Report. I was reminded by officials that this is something of a record. I do not know if they meant that as a compliment—equating the number of amendments to the effectiveness of the Bill. However, as we have gone through this process, time and again, new pieces of evidence—new gaps—have come to light and, where at all possible, the Government have sought to respond to them.
I will speak to my amendments first and then deal with the questions which were raised. The government amendments reflect the European Union fundamental rights agency’s key functions for such a role and the Northern Ireland human trafficking and exploitation Act. These amendments have been drafted following significant consultation with NGOs and Peers on the precise wording necessary to seek the overall objective of ensuring that we have set out the fundamental principles of these roles in statute.
The government amendments clarify beyond doubt the independence of the child trafficking advocate’s role; ensure the advocate promotes the child’s well-being as well as acts in the child’s best interests; and give the advocate the power to assist the child in obtaining legal advice, as referred to by my noble friend Lady Hodgson. I will return later to the question raised by my noble friend Lady Hamwee. I know that this has been at the very forefront of the debate on this issue and is reflected in the amendments tabled by noble Lords today.
These amendments also remove the Secretary of State’s discretion to make detailed regulations and replace this with a duty to do so. We are also ensuring,
through these amendments, that the regulations provide for advocates to be appointed to potential child victims of human trafficking as soon as possible.
The government amendments will also place a requirement on public authorities to co-operate and share information with child trafficking advocates, where any disclosures do not contravene a restriction. This will place beyond doubt the status of the advocate across the criminal justice, care and immigration systems. Again, these government amendments closely reflect those made by noble Lords, as referred to by the noble Baroness, Lady Royall.
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I will take a moment to address my noble friend Lord McColl’s amendments, Amendments 55 and 69, in particular. I understand the sentiment behind these amendments but am keen to assure my noble friend that the reference here to “reasonable grounds” does not tie the appointment of a child trafficking advocate to a reasonable grounds decision or the national referral mechanism. The wording of the clause as it stands seeks to ensure that all children who are suspected of being victims of human trafficking are appointed a child trafficking advocate in a timely manner, regardless of whether they have entered the national referral mechanism system. It is also the intention that the advocate would, if necessary, be able to work with the child beyond any negative grounds decision to ensure an effective transition to other relevant services. The intention behind the amendment is to standardise wording across the Bill: the test will be the same as it would have been if the clause still read “reason to believe”.
I thank the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, and the noble Baroness, Lady Royall, for Amendment 60. I hope that noble Lords will agree that the effect of government Amendments 54, 61, 63, 66, 67 and 70 is to deliver the improvements to the clause which are sought by Amendment 60. In these amendments, we clarify beyond doubt the independence of the child trafficking advocate role, we give the advocate the power to assist the child to obtain legal advice—including, where necessary, instructing legal representatives to act on behalf of the child—and we place a requirement on public authorities to co-operate and share information with child trafficking advocates.
I welcome the scrutiny which the amendments tabled by Peers has brought to this clause. Let me be clear that we have listened. Our amendments now put on the face of the Bill the key functions of the child trafficking advocate as set out in the European Union fundamental rights agency handbook. We have drawn on the wording in the Northern Ireland human trafficking and exploitation Act, as has been suggested by noble Lords. These are internationally agreed principles and functions.
I now turn to some of the points raised. On the question of which agencies will be on the panel, I was trying to make the point that we need to view the amendments that have been put forward alongside Jeremy Oppenheim’s well received review of the national referral mechanism, which recommended that we move from the current position of UKVI effectively adjudicating
and assessing the reasonable grounds and conclusive grounds decisions to involving a wider group of agencies and organisations. These will include, of course, the local authorities, the police and other agencies working in the area and involved in the protection of the individual. We believe that the decision-making will be better as a result, because it will be broader, and this will move from being seen just as an immigration issue to an immigration and social care issue. That will go some way to addressing the point which the noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, raised about the level of co-operation that will exist between various agencies. The pilot has highlighted some gaps in that, which I will refer to later.
My noble friend Lady Hamwee asked for details on legal representation. We developed the government amendment after consulting expert lawyers. The text draws on the new Northern Ireland Act, and we are confident that our amendment complements the rules on children’s capacity.
The noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, asked about the role of the advocate and how it might differ from that of the social worker. The social worker is responsible for carrying out the local authority safeguarding functions for the child and for making decisions about the child’s upbringing, if they are a looked-after child. The independent child trafficking advocates will be responsible for holding the local authority to account and making sure that the child’s views are heeded. In all of this, we recognise that the individuals who we are talking about here will be incredibly confused and vulnerable people trying to make sense of what has happened to them and what will happen next. There will be a great deal of fear. There may also be, in view of how they were trafficked to this country, a deep hostility and suspicion towards figures of authority. Therefore, in designing the role, we need to be aware that the child trafficking advocate needs effectively to be the child’s friend—a trusted friend, who can guide them through the process as we want.
My noble friend Lady Hamwee also asked what the difference is between the “reasonable grounds” and the “reason to believe” tests. There is no legal difference between reasonable grounds and reason to believe. We wanted to make sure that we reflected the wording in our international obligations in the NRM enabling power. If we had left different tests in the different victims’ provisions, the courts might have assumed that there was a difference, which was the point that my noble friend was making. Using the term “reasonable grounds” does not tie the provisions to the reasonable grounds decision within the national referral mechanism, just as the term “suspect but cannot prove” is a standard of proof.
My noble friend Lord McColl asked whether the appointment of a child trafficking advocate will not be tied to the national referral mechanism. Of course, that is absolutely right. That was the evidence that we got on 5 February in the very helpful meeting that we had. I am sure that all noble Lords want to pay tribute to the work of the Barnardo’s case workers who gave evidence. They were making the point that their engagement was not at all linked to the decision of the national referral mechanism. The noble Lord, Lord McColl, also asked why the Government’s amendment
allowed for independence where practicable. This was drafted to allow some flexibility for the basis of a future national scheme, depending on what was learnt from the evaluation of the trial. However, we are clear that the advocates will be independent.
My noble friend also asked for reassurance that regulations and guidance will be in line with international best practice, including the EU fundamental rights agency handbook and the UNICEF best practice and scoping review. I assure my noble friend that the regulations and guidance outlining the functions of the advocate will indeed be in line with international best practice, including the EU FRA and the UNICEF best practice and scoping review. My noble friend asked which bodies will be under the duty in Amendment 72. Public authorities are defined in this Bill with reference to the definition in the Human Rights Act 1998 as anybody with functions that are public in nature, excluding courts. This definition has been chosen because it is flexible and expansive. Schools, colleges, the NHS and UK Visas and Immigration would all be covered when considering the public function.
I turn to the other points that noble Lords raised, particularly the one raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Royall, who asked about the trial. We received an update, and I wrote on 23 February and gave a further indication on that. We expect that there will be a further evaluation.