CYP Now - Safeguarding duty for Border Agency

The government is to change the law to require the UK Border Agency to safeguard children following pressure from children's rights campaigners. The move is confirmation that ministers have acknowledged that the agency should have to promote the welfare of children.

The government intends to include the new duty in the forthcoming Immigration Bill. As a result, a House of Lords amendment to the Children and Young Persons Bill that proposed the same thing will be removed.

Children's minister Beverley Hughes announced the change during a House of Commons committee stage debate on the Children and Young Persons Bill. She said the government had listened to the "thoughtful and powerful arguments" for making the UK Border Agency (UKBA) comply with section 11 of the Children Act 2004.

"Having considered the arguments fully, the Home Secretary and the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families have agreed that aligning the UKBA with those agencies which are already subject to the section 11 duty is the right thing to do for children and young people," she said.

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