The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, David Bolt, has published his inspection report on how the Home Office considers the ‘best interests’ of unaccompanied asylum seeking children.

The completed report was sent to the Home Secretary on 7 February 2018.

In 2017, the Independent Chief Inspector commissioned a literature review to assist with its planned programme of inspection work in relation to children. The review, compiled by Adrian Matthews, formerly Senior Policy Development Officer at the Office of the Children’s Commissioner for England, is published alongside this inspection report.

Mr Bolt said:

The UK’s treatment of asylum seeking children is a matter of considerable public interest. In this inspection, I looked specifically at the Home Office’s handling of unaccompanied asylum seeking children, and in particular at how it ensured that the ‘best interests’ of the child were properly considered throughout the asylum process. This included how those interests were met for those children transferred from one Local Authority area to another under the National Transfer Scheme. This inspection was the second in what I intend to be a series of inspections focused on the treatment of children by the Home Office’s Borders, Immigration and Citizenship System. The first report, published in July 2017, dealt with the Home Office’s application of the good character requirement in the case of young persons who apply for registration as British citizens.

It also sits alongside my report on the Home Office’s Asylum Intake and Casework, which was published in November 2017.

My predecessor reported in 2013 on the handling of asylum applications from unaccompanied children. In that inspection he made 9 recommendations, covering: consistency of treatment; family tracing; timeliness of asylum decisions; performance targets; development of statistics; data quality/record-keeping; quality of refusal letters; consistency of initial interviews; and referrals to Refugee Council.

The Home Office accepted all 9 recommendations, and “closed” them all between October 2013 and May 2016, having satisfied itself that it had taken the necessary actions. This latest inspection showed that it now needed to revisit most of these areas and make improvements that stick.

In addition, improvements are needed in relation to the National Transfer Scheme, in how the Home Office communicates with unaccompanied asylum seeking children and stakeholders, and in the use of UASC leave. This report contains just 2 recommendations, although each breaks down into several parts. Overall, there is a considerable amount of work for the Home Office to do. Given the impact the asylum system has on the lives of those children and young people who come into contact with it, I hope that the Home Office can move quickly to make the necessary improvements.

I would like to thank everyone who contributed to this inspection. My special thanks go to Adrian Matthews for his literature review of children’s rights and ‘best interests’, which provided the foundations for this inspection.

An inspection of the best interests of unaccompanied asylum seeking children

Home Office’s response to the Chief Inspector’s reports.

The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, David Bolt, has published his report of the re-inspection of Border Force’s identification and treatment of Potential Victims of Modern Slavery.

The completed report was sent to the Home Secretary on 30 January 2018.

The IPO and INPI signed a PPH agreement on 28 March at the 10th UK-Brazil Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) in London. The UK meets Brazil annually, using JETCO as a forum to pursue UK trade policy and commercial interests in Brazil.

The Agreement was signed by Andy Bartlett, IPO Divisional Director, and Mauro Maia, Executive Director of INPI. The signing was witnessed by Secretary of State for the Department of Trade, Rt Hon Liam Fox and his counterpart, acting Minister of Industry, Trade and Foreign Service, Marcos Jorge de Lima.

Ministers witnessing the signing of the PPH agreement by Andy Bartlett and Mauro Maia.

Mr Bartlett welcomed the agreement:

This agreement has obvious practical value to innovators seeking international patent protection. It is also symbolic of a more open and strategic approach by the Brazilian government on IP.

This bilateral PPH builds on work initiated under the UK-Brazil Memorandum of Understanding on IP. It will support UK and Brazilian businesses looking to trade in each other’s markets. It will also reinforce the already excellent relationship between the IP Offices of both countries.

Under the PPH program, an applicant whose claims are accepted by one office, can request faster processing of a co-pending application. The PPH can significantly speed up the process of gaining a patent and help minimise the associated costs to the applicant.

This is one of a number of initiatives launched in Brazil this month. Last week, the IPO and Oxentia, Oxford University’s Global Innovation Consultancy, launched a version of the Lambert Toolkit in Brazil. This toolkit helps academia and industry to carry out research projects together. We hope it encourages cross border technology transfer and joint projects between the countries.

UK Embassy, Oxentia, INPI, IPO and University Center of Belo Horizonte colleagues launching the Brazilian version of the Lambert toolkit.

Our Brazilian IP attaché Angelica Garcia has been working to understand the enforcement conditions and legislative process in Brazil. She recently attended meetings with PROCON, the consumer enforcement agency in Sao Paulo and the UK-Brazil Parliamentary group.

Such information gathering activities help us understand the problems facing UK businesses. We can then tailor our advice to those seeking to register and protect IP rights in Brazil.

Angelica also attended the launch of the UK-Brazil Year of Science and Innovation in Rio – a celebration of bilateral science and innovation cooperation.

By cooperating on IP resources such as the Lambert toolkit and issues like granting of patents, we can build stronger and more effective national IP systems. This will support both UK and Brazilian businesses.