“This hearing will consider: i) G's age assessment, ii) The position of the parents in light of the local authority's position that they have no locus to bring care proceedings nor to seek findings given G's age assessment, and, therefore, what orders the parents seek, and iii) The legal framework for G's care by the local authority if G maintains her wish not to return to her parents' care.”
“I…would announce loud and clear that that the standard of proof in finding the facts necessary to establish the threshold at s31 (2) or the welfare considerations at s1 of the 1989 Act is the simple balance of probabilities, neither more nor less. Neither the seriousness of the allegations nor the seriousness of the consequences should make any difference to the standard of proof to be applied in determining the facts. The inherent probabilities are simply something to be taken into account, where relevant, in deciding where the truth lies”
“The taskira, if the information which it bears is accurate, therefore indicates that the claimant was indeed aged 16 on arrival in the UK.”
“At the hearing before me the defendant confirmed that it did not challenge the genuineness of the taskira. The defendant's counsel also accepted the date on which it was stated to have been issued and that the discovery and production of the taskira was a relevant matter in considering whether to re-assess the claimant's age. The essence of the defendant's position is that the information contained in or on the taskira cannot be shown to have been compiled in an appropriate way and the document is not, therefore, a reliable piece of evidence as to the true age of the claimant and it therefore follows that receipt by the defendant of a copy of the taskira did not give rise to an obligation to re-assess the claimant's age.”