Thursday, March 24, 2011

Ros in the Lords: Question - People Trafficking

Dee Doocey has already made her presence felt in the House of Lords, and she took an early opportunity to raise a question of keen interest to those with the welfare of children at heart.

Asked By Baroness Doocey

To ask Her Majesty's Government what measures are in place at King's Cross St Pancras International station to prevent children being trafficked into the United Kingdom.

The answer, according to the Minister, Earl Attlee, appears to be none. Ros picked up on the point that measures were being taken at another gateway...

Baroness Scott of Needham Market: Is the noble Earl aware that when a specialist unit was set up at Heathrow it found that, of 1,800 unaccompanied children, half were under 11 and one-third were deemed to be at risk in some way? Have the Government given any consideration of whether the age at which children can travel unaccompanied is appropriately set?

In truth, the Minister's confidence that the matter of the age of the child has been properly considered may be reasonable in theory, but not in practice. Sadly, I fear that we'll see too many cases of trafficked children before consideration will lead to action

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