Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that the use of Artificial Intelligence for age-verification in Home Office applications will not increase incorrect decisions that could result in harm to children.

Assessing age is a complex task, and there is no one single or combination of techniques able to determine chronological age with precision. The Home Office wants to improve decision accuracy and safeguard vulnerable people. The Home Office has announced that Akhter Computers, working with Cognitec acting as a subcontractor, has been awarded a contract to provide Facial Age Estimation technology. Further testing and trialling of the technology is planned, with implementation subject to validation and assurance of the results of this testing.

Currently, FAE has not been operationalised. However, subject to the results of further testing and validation, FAE will be implemented throughout 2027. The Home Office’s current intention is to implement FAE as part of initial age decisions at the border. FAE is not intended to replace or automate the role of human age assessors. For initial age decisions, Immigration Officers’ expertise is critical to the decision making, and they will make the final decision. FAE will be an additional source of information to inform their judgement, not replace it.