Children and Young Persons Bill, and Children Act 2004 (section 11)
The Children and Young Persons Bill proposes to reform the statutory framework for the care system, to ensure that children and young people receive high quality care and support and to drive improvements in the delivery of services focused on the needs of the child.
It aims to enable those children and young people who enter the care system to be able to achieve the same aspirations parents have for their own children.
On 17 March 2008, the House of Lords voted to adopt an amendment to the Children and Young Persons Bill that would make the Border and Immigration Agency (now UK Border Agency) subject to the duty in section 11 of the Children Act 2004.
Section 11 requires listed agencies to make arrangements so that they have regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. When section 11 was first introduced, immigration officers and others responsible for immigration were excluded from this duty.
Previous attempts to extend the ambit of section 11 to those responsible for immigration have been defeated by the Government by small margins. The vote on 17 March was carried by 173 to 119 votes.
The Bill is now awaiting a second reading in the Commons, which is unlikely to take place until the end of April/early May.
