Ages were checked via a piece of cardboard with numbers from 1 to 63 written onto it. Migrants asked to point at a number to show how old they were, despite most coming from countries “in which the Roman alphabet was not used”. There were no translators, so staff employed a mix of speaking slowly in English, showing question sheets in different languages, using other migrants to interpret, asking migrants to write their details on Post-It notes or asking them to enter their own information onto the Border Force system. “These methods are not ideal and risk errors occurring in the information-gathering process,” said the report. There were also concerns that migrants were found with weapons after they had been searched by Border Force officers. Mr Neal’s report report blamed an “ineffective and inefficient” response by the Home Office for the failings, which had exposed gaps in security procedures and left vulnerable migrants at risk. Children were often forced to sleep in the same rooms as adult male migrants. Home Office staff did not ask about pregnancy, meaning that unless a woman was physically showing the signs of carrying a child, identification was reliant on specific questioning. Recommendations proposed by Mr Neal have been accepted by the Home Office, which said: “There remains work to do to, but much of this report is now of a historic character and the criticisms identified reflect processes and procedures not now followed under the new operation.”
