Dear Ms Roberts,

Freedom of Information Request 55154

I refer to your further request made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requesting information relating to the age assessments carried out on asylum seekers by Liverpool City Council and apologise for the delay in responding to you.

Age Assessments (AA) are carried out on asylum seekers whose age is disputed by the Home Office (UKBA) when making an asylum claim. It is the responsibility of the local authority to determine the persons age. Social workers currently use an AA document which is used as a guidance tool when carrying out AA. This document is used by a number of local authorities.

In line with current legislation/guidance, all AA carried out by Liverpool Children's Service are Merton Compliant.

All current social workers employed within the Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children team in Liverpool have taken part the relevant AA training.

All social workers hold a relevant social work qualification. Collectively their experience includes working with children and adults in varied situations. For example child protection, Children In Need, mental health, care proceedings etc. Their skills include carrying out initial assessments, core assessments and preparing court reports.

The numbers of AA completed by individual team members ranges from 50 to approximately 500.

Please find below a table of referral outcomes dating back to January 2007

I trust this information satisfies your enquiry

Yours sincerely

W Twigge (pp)

Information Manager

Liverpool City Council

Wendy Twigge Information Manager Legal Services

Municipal Buildings, Dale Street, Liverpool, L2 2DH

tel: 0151 225 3132 fax: 0151 225 2392 email: [email address]