Recommendation 30

The Bill is currently unclear about both the nature of the accommodation to be provided to unaccompanied children by the Home Office or the standards and safeguards applicable to that accommodation. Inadequate accommodation could breach the children’s Article 8 rights to a private or family life, or potentially even their Article 3 rights to be free from torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, depending on the severity of the inadequacy. The Bill should be amended to ensure Legislative Scrutiny: Illegal Migration Bill 125 that the safeguards provided by the Children Act 1989 to children in local authority care are replicated for children in Home Office accommodation in England (see Annex, Amendment 22).