Member

The noble Baroness raised a number of key points on that issue. The National Age Assessment Board, which launched on 31 March 2023, has now rolled out nationally and continues to offer significant improvements to our process for age assessing and continues to have expert social workers whose task is to support local councils in collecting comprehensive age assessments. The borders inspectorate recognised in its report recently that the National Age Assessment Board is a good example of partnership working and has undoubtedly made a positive contribute for the future. The noble Baroness mentioned that it is located in the Home Office, and that is true, but its assessment and members of staff are distinct from Home Office immigration decision-making functions, and the aim of achieving accurate age assessments will remain its primary consideration. So, even where local authorities refer to the National Age Assessment Board, they will continue to have a very important role in age assessment decisions taken in respect of children in their care.