Determining the age of a young person is a difficult task and therefore, the age assessment process for immigration purposes contains safeguards.<\/p>
Where a new arrival does not have genuine documentary evidence of their age and their claimed age is doubted, an initial age decision is conducted as a first step to prevent individuals who are clearly an adult or minor from being subjected unnecessarily to a more substantive age assessment and ensure that new arrivals are routed into the correct accommodation and processes for assessing their asylum or immigration claim. The lawfulness of the initial decision on age process was endorsed by the Supreme Court in the case of R (on the application of BF (Eritrea)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department\u202f[2021] UKSC 38.<\/p>
Where doubt remains and an individual cannot be assessed to be significantly over 18, they will be treated as a minor for immigration purposes until further assessment of their age by a local authority.<\/p>
The Home Office initial decision on age is not binding on the courts, and where the Court has doubt whether the individual is a minor or not, the courts will take a decision on the age of an individual before them based on the available evidence. This decision would then determine the type of detention estate someone is sent to if given a custodial sentence or remanded in custody. If an individual is sent to an adult prison and is later found to be a child, they can be moved to the youth custody estate if there continues to be a need to detain them.<\/p>
The recent legislative reforms introduced by this government will improve the accuracy of the scientific age assessment outcomes, minimising the risk that a person will be incorrectly treated as either an adult or a minor and ensure that age-appropriate services and care are reserved for genuine minors.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4950", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Murray of Blidworth"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Murray of Blidworth"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2023-09-21", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2023-09-21T15:24:27.287Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2023-09-07", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Asylum: Children"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that unaccompanied child asylum seekers arriving in the UK are not placed in adult prisons.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4983", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Earl Russell"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Earl Russell"} ], "uin" : "HL9992"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1249001", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Department of Health and Social Care"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1249001/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
The Department recognises that the hospice sector has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and that subsequent social distancing measures have affected some aspects of community fundraising. We regularly assess the effect of the COVID-19 outbreak on the hospice sector and through NHS England and NHS Improvement are in regular discussions with stakeholders in the sector about the challenges they face. A range of steps have been taken to support hospices.<\/p>
We have provided over £150 million in additional funding to the hospice sector to date during the pandemic. Alongside this, hospices have benefited from the financial support offered by Her Majesty\u2019s Treasury to all charities, such as paying no business rates for their shops next year and applying for a Business Interruption Loan.<\/p>
We continue to keep funding for hospices under review.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4708", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Bethell"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Lord Bethell"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2021-01-15", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : [{"_value" : "HL9989"} , {"_value" : "HL9991"} ], "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2021-01-15T13:15:46.423Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "17"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Health and Social Care"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Health and Social Care"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2020-11-04", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Hospices: Finance"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of funding for hospices.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/248", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Jones of Cheltenham"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Jones of Cheltenham"} ], "uin" : "HL9992"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/967503", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Home Office"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/967503/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
Unfortunately, the Department does not record this information in such a way as to allow us to report on the estimated number of immigration applications from Sri Lankan nationals in each year from 2008, broken down by ethnicity and this data could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4311", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Baroness Williams of Trafford"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2018-09-13", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2018-09-13T11:16:38.953Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2018-09-04", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Immigration: Sri Lanka"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government how many immigration applications from Sri Lankan nationals were granted in each year from 2008, broken down by ethnicity.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/1251", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Naseby"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Lord Naseby"} ], "uin" : "HL9992"} ], "itemsPerPage" : 10, "page" : 0, "startIndex" : 1, "totalResults" : 3, "type" : ["http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#ListEndpoint", "http://purl.org/linked-data/api/vocab#Page"]} }