Clause 34
Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [Lords]
9:15 am
Paul Rowen (Rochdale, Liberal Democrat)
I would like the Minister to clarify a few points about the clause, which amends section 21 of the UK Borders Act 2007 and extends to a larger number of officials the duty of care regarding children in clause 57. Obviously, that applies to those transferring over from the Customs function, but I have looked at the impact statement and I could not see a specific listing about this, although I may have missed something. More than 3,000 staff will be transferring to the Borders Agency; what additional training on child protection issues will they get and where has that been costed? I cannot see that in the impact statement. Given recent concerns in the press about particular people, it is important that the duty of care is reinforced, and that we have evidence that those staff will get the training that they need to deal with minors.