Draft Justification Decision (Scientific Age Imaging) Regulations 2023

Chris Stephens Excerpts

Monday 20th November 2023 General Committees

[Jon Trickett (Hemsworth) (Lab)]

rose—

[Chris Stephens (Glasgow South West) (SNP)]

rose—

[The Chair]

I call the hon. Member for Hemsworth to speak. [Interruption.] Perhaps I should call the Scottish National party spokesperson, the hon. Member for Glasgow South West, to speak first. I did not realise that he was planning to speak.

[Chris Stephens]

I have been bobbing, Sir James.

[The Chair]

I beg your pardon. It is also very kind of you to call me Sir James, but I am afraid that Mr Gray is all I get.

[Chris Stephens]

Thank you, Mr Gray. I have been bobbing, and I would have thought that a Glaswegian would have spotted a fellow Glaswegian. It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair.

As the Minister has outlined, this is perhaps a warm-up act for the Delegated Legislation Committee at 6 o’clock, which I will certainly attend. I will try to obey your earlier guidance, Mr Gray. I think it is sufficient to say that this decision is not without controversy. It has been criticised by a number of human rights groups. Their concern is particularly for people who have suffered incredible trauma. The Age Estimation Scientific Advisory Committee looked at this. Its evidence is worth noting and it is even included in the explanatory memorandum; I will certainly refer to points 7.5 and 7.8.

As I understand it, someone would have to consent to this particular test. Could the Minister tell me how the Government will take a view, if someone does not provide consent? We are being told by the Age Estimation Scientific Advisory Committee that there is no method, biological or social worker-led, which can protect age precision. It can only determine whether the age claimed is possible. That is what it says in the explanatory memorandum. It suggests to me that there is a lack of justification for putting forward this particular statutory instrument. As the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Brentford and Isleworth, said, what is the cost? There will certainly be a cost to the reputation of the country if it goes through. The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, which has been referred to, has said that

“x-ray imaging for a non-medical purpose is not ethical”.

Where does that leave the justification that the Department has come up with? It has also said that

“x-rays to determine age can be widely inaccurate”.

Does that not suggest that for someone who is going through a potentially life-changing decision like seeking sanctuary in the United Kingdom, having a test that is unethical, cannot predict properly and could be widely inaccurate surely cannot be justified? Is that not the case, Minister?

--- Later in debate ---

[Edward Argar]

The point I would make in respect of the vast majority of cases, the justifying authority is looking to see whether, under those regulations, it is possible for the Home Office to proceed in this way. The hon. Member for Hemsworth quoted from page six of the report. I would also highlight another quote on page six:

“The decision to use X-ray imaging appears well considered and appropriate to minimise any individual’s radiation exposure.”

That is what the Secretary of State has been looking at in this context: whether the measure meets the threshold of those regulations for the Home Office as the applying authority to bring forward specific proposals, which it will do.

The shadow Minister, the hon. Member for Brentford and Isleworth, did make one point that is directly relevant to these regulations, which concerned how a review would work. As the justifying authority, we will undertake a review if, for example, new or important information is acquired about efficacy or consequences, other techniques or technologies that have the same objectives become available, or there are any obvious relevant changes in practice, science or technology. I should be explicit that the statutory instrument does not include a statutory review, but the Ministry of Justice as the justifying authority will continue to monitor and review the use of X-rays in this context as the shadow Minister would expect.

I suspect that the spokesman for the Scottish National party, the hon. Member for Glasgow South West, may reprise a number of the arguments and questions that he has just put to me to a Home Office Minister as the applying authority in another Committee in about an hour. There are a number of points to consider. On informed consent, that would again be a question for the Home Office as the authority wishing to carry out this policy. Similarly, on the question of a scientific method of age assessment, it is recognised in the documents that the Government have put forward that assessing an individual’s age is an incredibly complex task and there is no single methodology, scientific or otherwise, can determine a person’s age with absolute precision. However, as I set out earlier, this will be one consideration in weighing up the evidence based on either the individual’s declared age or a social worker’s assessment of it.

[Chris Stephens]

I assume that the Minister thought I was speaking to the statutory instrument—shock horror. A number of human rights groups have raised concerns. Has he, as the justifying authority, had a look at those? Obviously, there are clear concerns about human rights.

[Edward Argar]

I am grateful to the SNP spokesman for that. In considering this as the justifying authority, the Secretary of State has had due regard to those named consultees that, under the 2004 Regulations, he is obliged to consult on the justification decisions. It would be for the Home Office to set out what discussions it had had—I think it was either the hon. Member for Brentford and Isleworth or the hon. Member for Hemsworth who talked about local authorities, campaign groups and others—in how they designed that policy and what they proposed when they bring that forward. That would be a matter for Home Office Ministers. I am perhaps being less forthcoming than I normally would be—the hon. Member for Glasgow South West has opposed me in Committee before—because I am deliberately drawing that distinction between the justifying authority, which is functionally separate in looking at what it actually has to look at as the MOJ, from the Home Office as the Department that has to introduce the specific regulations on how this policy would work. On that basis, I commend this decision and this statutory instrument to the Committee.

Question put,