Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the level of independence of the National Age Assessment Board.

The introduction of the National Age Assessment Board (NAAB) in March 2023, a decision-making body comprising of social workers who can conduct Merton age assessments on behalf of local authorities, offers significant improvements to our processes for assessing age. It aims to create greater consistency in age assessment practices and increase capacity and expertise in the system.

We have gone to great lengths to ensure that the NAAB is distinct from the Home Office’s asylum and immigration decision making functions and the two sit under separate management functions. In addition, the information acquired by the NAAB when conducting age assessments is not accessible to asylum and immigration decision making teams, other than the final decision on age.