Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 4:15 pm on 27 April 2004.

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Photo of Lord Avebury Lord Avebury Shadow Minister, Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs 4:15, 27 April 2004

moved Amendment No. 29:

Before Clause 18, insert the following new clause—

"DETENTION OF CHILDREN: ASSESSMENT

(1) Section 62 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (c. 41) (detention by the Secretary of State) shall be amended as follows.

(2) After subsection (9) insert—

"(9A) Where a detained person, within the meaning of section 147 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, as amended by this section, is under the age of 18, an independent assessor appointed by the Department for Education and Skills, or the appropriate executive body in the country, must visit the detained person for as long as the person remains detained to carry out on each visit an assessment into the welfare, developmental and educational needs of the detained person.

(9B) All assessments under this section shall be guided by the principles set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Children Act 1989, the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 or the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995.

(9C) Reports of the assessment shall contain advice on the compatibility of detention with the welfare of the detained person and must be sent to—

(a) the Chief Immigration Officer responsible for reviewing the detention;

(b) the detained person;

(c) the detained person's legal representative, if any.

(9D) When a Chief Immigration Officer receives a report of an assessment carried out under this section, he must review the decision to continue detention in the light of the advice contained in the assessment and send his decision on review, with the reasons for the decision, to—

(a) the independent assessor who carried out the assessment;

(b) the detained person;

(c) the detained person's legal representative, if any.""