Clause 16

Part of UK Borders Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 4:30 pm on 13 March 2007.

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Photo of Joan Ryan Joan Ryan Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Home Office, The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department 4:30, 13 March 2007

It is important to bear in mind that we are not talking simply about children or children in care. We are talking about children with limited leave, who therefore have a relationship with the immigration service and the IND. I have made the point that immigration officers and IND officials who deal with such children are specially trained. I take the hon. Gentleman’s point on board. It is important that the IND is involved in such situations for the reasons that I have given, but it is equally important that the officers are specially trained.

Current reporting arrangements for asylum seekers do not generally expect individuals to travel further than 25 miles to report. The amendment tabled by the hon. Member for Ashford dealt with that distance. If there is no reporting centre within 25 miles, we will find alternative arrangements—we could, for example, require the person to report to a local police station or other identified location. We anticipate that similar policy currently applying to asylum seekers would apply to those with limited leave who are required to report.