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UK Borders Bill

My Lords, I am advised that some local authorities use dental X-rays in that way. I asked officials to advise me on that point. Of course I shall check again and seek further clarification, but I maintain that X-rays are used in that way. Moreover, some applicants who have been assessed as adults themselves commission dental X-rays to support their claim to be under 18, so clearly applicants see this as a valuable process. We are aware that X-rays on their own cannot determine age precisely; no procedure can give that certainty. However, we believe that they can, when taken with a range of other evidence such as the social worker assessment, provide a better means of narrowing the range of possible ages and thus assist the decision-maker. As I said in Grand Committee, X-ray procedures involve a small degree of exposure to ionising radiation—we are all familiar with that—but I reassure noble Lords that we have been advised that the risk of any harm is absolutely minimal. I have concerns that if this amendment were enacted it would make the operation of our current policy very difficult. As I explained in Grand Committee, this amendment would appear to mean that an immigration officer would not be able to take into account a social worker's assessment if it depended in any way on dental analysis. It might also prevent an individual seeking to rely on their own commissioned dental X-rays to support a claimed age. We have to find ways to improve the process for age assessments and their reliability and to minimise the serious child protection issues that may arise following incorrect assessments. Many EU member states currently use medical examinations for the purposes of age assessment and it is a procedure which is specifically permitted by the EU Procedures Directive. We have given a commitment to share research that we have commissioned on the subject of ethnic variation in relation to dental development—a point which the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, made today and in Grand Committee—and we are still awaiting the results of this research and expect this to be published sometime toward the end of the year. For those reasons I invite the noble Lord to withdraw his amendment.