A compassionate welcome for young refugees

SIR – While background discussions continue about the strategy behind the processing of young refugees in Britain, it is right to remember those away from the limelight on the frontline of our country’s welcome.

In Croydon on Saturday, I saw a little of the tireless professionalism of immigration staff, doctors, social workers, interpreters and volunteers.

Each person who arrived was treated with seriousness, patience, good humour, courtesy and respect. Whatever the decisions later made about their destinations, we can be proud that they were met by such a team as this on their first day on British soil. Rev Anthony Buckley Chaplain, Alleyn’s School London SE22

SIR – I have no doubt some refugees are passing off as minors. However, if it was your daughter in peril, and she found a place of safety by pretending to be a couple of years younger, would you really blame her? Andy Lyons Sherborne, Dorset

SIR – As a member of a research ethics committee in the Health Research Authority – successor to the National Research Ethics Service – I want to clear up the misconception over Dame Sally Davies’s reported comments on the use of dental X-rays to determine refugees’ ages (report, October 21).

Such testing, which has no medical or research impact, is outside the remit of the Health Research Authority and would not be considered by a Research Ethics Committee.

There are, obviously, issues regarding the use of X-rays for nonmedical purposes, but these would come under the Ionising Radiation (Medical Exposure) Regulations. However, the radiation dose received is so small as to be insignificant.

Whether it is ethical to administer a single X-ray to determine the age of a supposed child refugee has to be weighed against the social and economic costs of admitting them to Britain if they are later found to be older than they claimed. This is more of a political than an ethical decision. John Warden Driffield, East Yorkshire