Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 23
23
Accepted
Paragraph: 113
Discrepancies persist in safeguarding responsibilities for children within the asylum system.
Conclusion
The Government has a statutory safeguarding responsibility for the welfare of children in the asylum system: these concerns must be addressed as a priority, and there remains clear discrepancies in procedures about whether the Home Office or local authority takes lead responsibility for the safeguarding of minors and how the two bodies work complementarily. In particular, we request that the Government include in its response to this report a summary of changes made to Home Office safeguarding processes in consequence of the review referred to by Abi Tierney, in evidence on 2 December 2020.
Government Response Summary
The government is establishing a National Age Assessment Board (NAAB) comprising expert social workers, seeking scientific advice on age assessment methods, and introducing a statutory right of appeal to improve decision-making and safeguarding for minors.
Paragraph Reference:
113
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
Local authorities are responsible for the protection and safeguarding of UASC in their area as set out in the ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ guidance. In a small number of cases, the Home Office has stepped in to temporarily accommodate UASC in hotels while awaiting transfer via the National Transfer Scheme to a local authority. It is the duty of government and society as a whole to keep children safe – this includes statutory safeguarding partners like local authorities, the police, and health services working together. The children we encounter through the immigration system, whether accompanied or unaccompanied, can be particularly vulnerable and so we must be vigilant to ensure we promptly identify and act where we identify safeguarding concerns. Section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 places a duty on the Home Secretary to make arrangements for ensuring that immigration, asylum, nationality, and customs functions are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in the UK. This duty applies to all Home Office staff and contractors exercising these functions. The statutory agencies responsible for safeguarding adults and children are local authorities, health, and police, who share responsibility and accountability. The Home Office however has an important role to play in identifying those at risk and sharing relevant information with statutory agencies so they can fulfil their legal responsibilities. such as the one Abi Tierney referred to in previous evidence to HASC. With respect to concerns about age assessment the UK typically receives over 3,000 asylum claims from unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) per year. However, between 2016-2021 there were 6,177 cases where age was disputed and subsequently resolved, of which 58% were found to be adults. adult, and equally if an adult is wrongly accepted as a child and placed in accommodation with younger children to whom they could present a risk. There are currently incentives for adults to claim to be under 18 years old. Unaccompanied children generally receive a greater level of support than adults in several respects, including the accommodation they are provided with, the procedural and substantive treatment of their asylum claims, the arrangements that would need to be made to secure their possible removal and the circumstances in which they can be held in immigration detention. Our reforms aim to make assessments more consistent and robust from the outset, with any disputed decisions resolved quickly and conclusively. We are establishing a decision- making function in the Home Office, referred to as the National Age Assessment Board (NAAB) which will primarily consist of expert social workers whose task will be to conduct full age assessments, upon referral from a local authority. In addition, we are seeking scientific advice on the use of scientific methods that could represent an additional source of evidence to improve decision-making about a person’s age, which could help to reduce safeguarding risks associated with adults or children being wrongly assessed. A newly established statutory right of appeal will ensure that any challenge to the outcome of an age assessment can be resolved as swiftly as possible.