Passports: Children

(asked on 16th October 2017) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 12 September 2017 to Question 9459, on passports: children, what criteria her Department uses for certain circumstances under which the Border Force can stop a parent and ask them to produce documentation explaining the relationship between the parent and the child.


Answered by
Brandon Lewis Portrait
Brandon Lewis
This question was answered on 24th October 2017

Border Force officers have the power to ask questions of any passenger seeking entry to the United Kingdom so that their nationality and identity can be established. Through their interaction with passengers at the Border, officers must also discharge Border Force’s statutory duty to promote the welfare of children entering the United Kingdom.

Border Force officers are trained to identify safeguarding issues. Where a Border Force officer has concerns surrounding the welfare of the child or where, for example, it is not immediately apparent that they are related, they may request that the accompanying adult provides additional documentation that confirms the relationship between them and the child.

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