Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to review the (a) accuracy, (b) ethics and (c) fairness of (i) scientific methods and (ii) artificial intelligence tools used to assess the age of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children; and what child-centred safeguards are in place to protect their welfare.

Assessing the age of unaccompanied children is an incredibly complex and difficult task, and the Home Office is currently assessing which scientific methods and artificial intelligence can best improve age assessment methods. The Government will inform Parliament of any decisions on this policy area in due course.

All policy development is carried out with regard to section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 and the best interests of the child.