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UK Borders Bill

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Ashford (Damian Green) on pressing this issue with hon. Members and those in the other place. I should like to thank the Government for listening and making some response. That is a welcome feature, but I rise to support his wish for the Government to go a bit further. The problem that they face is that they have made a concession in the form of a code of practice, which has nothing like the teeth that it would have if it were a statutory requirement or a procedure laid down in law. My hon. Friend's proposal is a good way to bridge the gap between a clear law on the one hand and a rather weak code of practice on the other. He suggests that, where the code of practice is not followed, it should be a matter of report, so that the people who follow the procedures will understand that it is not just any old code of practice that came round in an e-mail a year ago that has been forgotten about, but something that is part of their operative procedures. I hope that the Minister will accept amendment (a) in that spirit and that, having made the move to welcome the idea of a code of conduct, he will wish to see it firmly written into procedures, because there is a consensus in the House and the other place that the problem of children is very special in the context of our immigration service. As my hon. Friend has said, many Conservative Members wish to see stronger and better policing of our borders in all sorts of ways, but we also think that the rights of children need to be looked after.