My Lords, I am sorry: by “briefly” I did not intend to suggest that I was about to sit down, however welcome that may be to the House. I am, however, grateful to noble Lords for assisting me on the matter of the time allowed.
I am reminded that the right reverend Prelate, the Bishop of Durham, raised points about the manner in which assessments are carried out, and I again emphasise that the persons carrying them out are trained social workers, and it is not anticipated that that will change.
Amendment 84D, tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Coaker, deals with the manner in which these matters will be considered across the United Kingdom. The noble Lord wanted to know why it was being done on a national basis as opposed to within the devolved Administrations. We cannot do that, because these matters are reserved to the United Kingdom Government and apply across the UK. These age assessment measures will apply exclusively to those subject to immigration control, and immigration is a reserved matter. The overriding objective of the age assessment measures in the Bill is to ensure that there are appropriate arrangements in place to determine the ages of people coming to this country without evidence—usually in documentary form—of their claimed age. That is why it is the Government’s view that these measures relate entirely to immigration and are therefore reserved to the UK Parliament.
The comprehensive reforms we are making to the age assessment system are designed to help and support the local authorities that will carry out these tasks. For example, the new age assessment board will carry out an age assessment where a local authority makes a referral. It is not quite all-imposing upon the local authorities, but rather, makes available something to assist should they consider it desirable.
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Where the new national age assessment board carries out an age assessment on referral by a local authority, it will defend that assessment in the court if challenged. This will reduce local authority costs and legal exposure, while improving the quality and consistency of decision-making. Referral would be entirely voluntary. If we were to follow the terms of the amendment—I appreciate that the noble Lord’s amendment is a probing one to test the position—this would exclude local authorities in Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. By that means, we would be penalising those local authorities by removing the benefits of these reforms and taking away important support which local authorities in England would be able to utilise. From a practical point of view, this risks creating a confusing and complex system with significant differences in how age assessment disputes are handled, depending upon where in the United Kingdom these matters are being raised. We consider it unreasonable and undesirable to oblige local authorities and young people, irrespective of whether they are a child or a young adult, to navigate such complexity.
However, the Government recognise the very important role which local authorities will continue to play in age assessment, and we are committed to continuing to work with them to achieve our collective aims. We also welcome continued engagement with the devolved Administrations and look forward to how these measures will be implemented. But we bear in mind that this is a national system for a matter reserved to the national
Government, and we consider it undesirable that even slight wrinkles should emerge between treatments across the United Kingdom.
I propose to conclude—