Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Avebury (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Wednesday, 24 January 2007.

Immigration: X-rays

Question: My Lords, was not the procedure of using medical or dental X-rays on children for age determination brought to an end by William Whitelaw, as he was then, in February 1982? No official X-rays have been taken of children since then for the reasons given by the British Dental Association and other professional bodies: the procedures are inaccurate, inappropriate and unethical. Will the Minister acknowledge that there are no studies that would enable one to compare the dental development of a child seeking asylum at one of our ports of entry against data from populations in the countries of origin, such as Eritrea or China, and to make a reasonably accurate assessment?

Answer: My Lords, it is certainly true that the policy on this was settled in 1982, but things have changed since then, and there have been improvements in the reliability of the use of X-ray material for age determination. I accept the general point often made that there is no absolute precision. Several of our EU partners, such as Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, use X-ray records and X-rays as a way of helping them to decide the age of a young person.

Secondary information