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1659257

	registered interest
	date	07/09/2023
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Children
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that unaccompanied child asylum seekers arriving in the UK are not placed in adult prisons.
	tabling member printed	Earl Russell
	uin	HL9992
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/09/2023 answer text <p>Determining the age of a young person is a difficult task and therefore, the age assessment process for immigration purposes contains safeguards.</p><p>Where a new arrival does not have genuine documentary evidence of their age and their claimed age is doubted, an initial age decision is conducted as a first step to prevent individuals who are clearly an adult or minor from being subjected unnecessarily to a more substantive age assessment and ensure that new arrivals are routed into the correct accommodation and processes for assessing their asylum or immigration claim. The lawfulness of the initial decision on age process was endorsed by the Supreme Court in the case of R (on the application of BF (Eritrea)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2021] UKSC 38.</p><p>Where doubt remains and an individual cannot be assessed to be significantly over 18, they will be treated as a minor for immigration purposes until further assessment of their age by a local authority.</p><p>The Home Office initial decision on age is not binding on the courts, and where the Court has doubt whether the individual is a minor or not, the courts will take a decision on the age of an individual before them based on the available evidence. This decision would then determine the type of detention estate someone is sent to if given a custodial sentence or remanded in custody. If an individual is sent to an adult prison and is later found to be a child, they can be moved to the youth custody estate if there continues to be a need to detain them.</p><p>The recent legislative reforms introduced by this government will improve the accuracy of the scientific age assessment outcomes, minimising the risk that a person will be incorrectly treated as either an adult or a minor and ensure that age-appropriate services and care are reserved for genuine minors.</p> answering member printed Lord Murray of Blidworth question first answered 21/09/2023 15:24:27 answering member 4950 label Biography information for Lord Murray of Blidworth
	tabling member	4983 label Biography information for Earl Russell

1659256

	registered interest
	date	07/09/2023
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Children
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government how many unaccompanied child asylum seekers have been placed in HMP Elmley in Kent; and how many are still held there.
	tabling member printed	Earl Russell
	uin	HL9991
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/09/2023 answer text <p>The Home Office does not collect data on the number of age dispute cases that have arisen in adult prisons and is unable to confirm the statistics referenced in the Guardian article, which are derived from local authority responses to an FOI request. Our published data on age assessment can be accessed here. Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</p><p>Furthermore, the Home Office published data on age disputes aggregates the age disputes resolved by including the outcomes of initial age decisions by the Home Office taken at the point of first contact, comprehensive Merton compliant age assessments conducted by social workers and any subsequent legal challenge into one category.</p> answering member printed Lord Murray of Blidworth question first answered 21/09/2023 15:25:34 answering member 4950 label Biography information for Lord Murray of Blidworth
	tabling member	4983 label Biography information for Earl Russell

1658467

	registered interest
	date	05/09/2023
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Children
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Murray of Blidworth on 20 July (HL9141), why they do not hold records that would enable them to answer parliamentary questions on the age of the youngest unaccompanied child seeking asylum that has been placed in a hotel.
	tabling member printed	Lord Scriven
	uin	HL9906
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/09/2023 answer text <p>We take the safety and welfare of those in our care, including unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, extremely seriously. We have robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all young people in hotels are safe and supported as we seek urgent placements with a local authority.</p><p>No individuals, apart from the unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, are residing at any of the hotels ring-fenced for children.</p><p>Children are supported by team leaders and support workers who are on site 24 hours a day. Further care is provided in hotels by teams of social workers and nurses. All contingency sites have security staff on site 24/7 and providers liaise closely with local police to ensure the welfare and safety of vulnerable residents.</p><p>All individuals working directly with the young people accommodated at the hotels have Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service checks, and all those working and operating on the hotel sites have DBS clearance. The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) found that the young people accommodated at the hotels unanimously reported feeling happy and safe.</p><p>We do hold records however, the data requested cannot be provided as it comes from live operational databases that have not been quality assured.</p> answering member printed Lord Murray of Blidworth question first answered 18/09/2023 15:15:50 answering member 4950 label Biography information for Lord Murray of Blidworth
	tabling member	4333 label Biography information for Lord Scriven

1658466

	registered interest
	date	05/09/2023
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Children
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government whether it is their current policy to place unaccompanied children seeking asylum, who are waiting for placement with a local authority, in hotels; and, if so, how many are placed in hotels.
	tabling member printed	Lord Scriven
	uin	HL9905
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/09/2023 answer text <p>Hotel accommodation is a temporary means to accommodate the increased number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) arriving and is only ever a contingency option, not a long-term solution.</p><p>The high number of UASC arrivals, particularly as a result of small boat crossings, has placed unprecedented pressure on the National Transfer Scheme. Out of necessity we accommodated UASC on an emergency and temporary basis in hotels while placements with local authorities have been vigorously pursued. The High Court recently ruled that the routine and systematic use of hotels to accommodate UASC is unlawful, and we are working at pace with Kent County Council, other government departments and local authorities across the UK to ensure suitable local authority placements are provided for unaccompanied children urgently and sustainably.</p><p>We provided local authorities with children’s services £15,000 for every eligible young person taken into their care from a Home Office-run hotel dedicated to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children or the Kent Reception and Safe Care Service by the end of February 2023. As a result of incentivised funding, we were able to temporarily reduce the number of unaccompanied children accommodated in hotels to zero. This was the second funding pilot run by the Home Office in 2022/23 to help local authorities invest in longer term infrastructure for accommodating and supporting unaccompanied children. Ending the use of hotels for UASC is an absolute priority and we will continue to work around the clock with councils to increase the number of care placements available.</p><p>The data requested cannot be provided as it comes from live operational databases that have not been quality assured.</p> answering member printed Lord Murray of Blidworth question first answered 18/09/2023 16:27:48 answering member 4950 label Biography information for Lord Murray of Blidworth
	tabling member	4333 label Biography information for Lord Scriven

1676498

	registered interest
	date	07/12/2023
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Children
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government how many unaccompanied asylum-seeking children have gone missing from Home Office accommodation since 2021 in (1) Leicester, and (2) Leicestershire.
	tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of Leicester
	uin	HL981
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/12/2023 answer text <p>The wellbeing of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children is our priority. We maintain that the best place for these children to be accommodated is within local authority care.</p><p>There are currently no unaccompanied children in hotels and there has never been unaccompanied asylum seeking hotels in Leicester. Nationally all unaccompanied children’s hotel accommodation has been empty since 18 November 2023. Of the 7 hotels which were operational in 2022, 6 of those were closed permanently on 30 November 2023.</p><p>We take the safety of those in our care seriously. We have robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all young people in emergency interim hotels were safe and supported as we sought urgent placements with a local authority.</p><p>The specific data requested cannot be provided as it comes from live operational databases that have not been quality assured.</p><p>The most recent published data can be found at Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (<a href="https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2F&amp;data=05%7C02%7Cministerforcrimeandpolicing%40homeoffice.gov.uk%7Cf85bd4247929422158cc08dc02262860%7Cf24d93ecb2914192a08af182245945c2%7C0%7C0%7C638387610212132362%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=Fwar%2FaMFxDhCGKBRYwu4HeYh2mzhVtnrAvP9NZglKHk%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">www.gov.uk</a>).</p> answering member printed Lord Sharpe of Epsom grouped question UIN HL980 question first answered 21/12/2023 14:30:04 answering member 4888 label Biography information for Lord Sharpe of Epsom
	tabling member	4947 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of Leicester

1676497

	registered interest
	date	07/12/2023
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Children
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government how many unaccompanied asylum-seeking children have been received into Home Office accommodation each year since 2021 in (1) Leicester, and (2) Leicestershire.
	tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of Leicester
	uin	HL980
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/12/2023 answer text <p>The wellbeing of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children is our priority. We maintain that the best place for these children to be accommodated is within local authority care.</p><p>There are currently no unaccompanied children in hotels and there has never been unaccompanied asylum seeking hotels in Leicester. Nationally all unaccompanied children’s hotel accommodation has been empty since 18 November 2023. Of the 7 hotels which were operational in 2022, 6 of those were closed permanently on 30 November 2023.</p><p>We take the safety of those in our care seriously. We have robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all young people in emergency interim hotels were safe and supported as we sought urgent placements with a local authority.</p><p>The specific data requested cannot be provided as it comes from live operational databases that have not been quality assured.</p><p>The most recent published data can be found at Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (<a href="https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gov.uk%2F&amp;data=05%7C02%7Cministerforcrimeandpolicing%40homeoffice.gov.uk%7Cf85bd4247929422158cc08dc02262860%7Cf24d93ecb2914192a08af182245945c2%7C0%7C0%7C638387610212132362%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000%7C%7C%7C&amp;sdata=Fwar%2FaMFxDhCGKBRYwu4HeYh2mzhVtnrAvP9NZglKHk%3D&amp;reserved=0" target="_blank">www.gov.uk</a>).</p> answering member printed Lord Sharpe of Epsom grouped question UIN HL981 question first answered 21/12/2023 14:30:04 answering member 4888 label Biography information for Lord Sharpe of Epsom
	tabling member	4947 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of Leicester

1676496

	registered interest
	date	07/12/2023
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Children
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have made a decision about whether the power under the Illegal Migration Act 2023 for the Home Office to accommodate children will come into force; and if so, when.
	tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of Leicester
	uin	HL979
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/12/2023 answer text <p>The Illegal Migration Act received Royal Assent on 20 July 2023. The Act seeks to ensure the only way to come to the UK for protection will be through safe and legal routes and will take power out of the hands of the criminal gangs and protect vulnerable people, including children.</p><p>Following the High Court ECPAT judgment and Supreme Court judgment on Rwanda, the Government is carefully reflecting on commencement of the powers in the Act, including those relating to the accommodation and transfer of unaccompanied children.</p><p>These powers have not yet been commenced and a decision will be made in due course. The Act does not change a local authority’s statutory obligations to children from the date of arrival and that the best place for an unaccompanied child is in the care of a local authority. This is something the Government was consistently clear about during the Illegal Migration Act’s passage through Parliament.</p><p>We are working at pace with Kent County Council, other government departments and local authorities across the UK to ensure suitable local authority placements are provided for unaccompanied asylum seeking children urgently and sustainably.</p> answering member printed Lord Sharpe of Epsom question first answered 20/12/2023 16:40:41 answering member 4888 label Biography information for Lord Sharpe of Epsom
	tabling member	4947 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of Leicester

1654968

	registered interest
	date	20/07/2023
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Children
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government how many recorded diagnoses of malnutrition have occurred among child asylum seekers.
	tabling member printed	The Lord Bishop of St Albans
	uin	HL9571
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 31/07/2023 answer text <p>The Home Office does not hold data on diagnoses of malnutrition in the asylum seeking population.</p><p>Asylum seekers in contingency accommodation are provided with breakfast, lunch, and evening meals, with a choice of at least one hot and one cold selection, at least one vegetarian option with each main meal and a food service for babies and small children with the appropriate foodstuffs. Food is provided in a location easily accessible to all.</p><p>Portion sizes will be in line with the NHS 5-a-day guidelines, available at: 5 A Day portion sizes - NHS (www.nhs.uk). If an asylum seeker would like to discuss their dietary requirements, they are advised and supported to contact Migrant Help.</p><p>We continuously look at ways to improve our procedures to ensure we address concerns quickly and effectively; one of the tools we use to achieve this is through our targeted surveys. These are 100% anonymous and available 24/7 in a variety of languages. The Initial Accommodation (IA) survey is aimed at all those who reside in all forms of contingency accommodation and seeks insight on the fundamental aspects of the provision. This includes questions on the accommodation standards and suitability, food offering, information provided.</p><p>The Home Office monitors our service providers closely to ensure the requirements we set out in our contracts are being delivered. This includes physically inspecting contingency sites and food provision. The food service at hotels meets appropriate nutritional standards for each menu and satisfies cultural, religious, health or other specific requirements.</p> answering member printed Lord Murray of Blidworth question first answered 31/07/2023 11:56:08 answering member 4950 label Biography information for Lord Murray of Blidworth
	tabling member	4308 label Biography information for The Lord Bishop of St Albans

1652151

	registered interest
	date	11/07/2023
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Children
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of how many unaccompanied children seeking asylum remain in hotels, prior to placement with Local Authorities.
	tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
	uin	HL9255
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/07/2023 answer text <p>The data requested cannot be provided as it comes from live operational databases that have not been quality assured.</p><p>There has been a significant increase in the numbers of young people making unnecessary and dangerous journeys to the UK. The Home Office has had no alternative but to temporarily use hotels in order to give some unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC) emergency accommodation and support while permanent accommodation with a local authority is identified.</p><p>We are determined to end the use of hotels for these young people and Home Office officials work tirelessly with local authorities to move children into care placements through the National Transfer Scheme (NTS).</p><p>To help achieve this, we have provided local authorities with children’s services £15,000 for every eligible young person taken into their care from a Home Office-run hotel dedicated to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children or the Kent Reception and Safe Care Service by the end of February 2023.</p> answering member printed Lord Murray of Blidworth question first answered 25/07/2023 15:09:36 answering member 4950 label Biography information for Lord Murray of Blidworth
	tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

1651055

	registered interest
	date	06/07/2023
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Asylum: Children
	house id	2
	legislature	25277 pref label House of Lords
	question text	To ask His Majesty's Government what was the age of youngest unaccompanied child seeking asylum who has been housed in a Home Office temporary hotel; and how long that child was housed there for.
	tabling member printed	Lord Scriven
	uin	HL9141
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/07/2023 answer text <p>We take the safety of those in our care seriously. We have robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all young people in hotels are safe and supported as we seek urgent placements with a local authority. Young people are supported by team leaders and support workers who are on site 24 hours a day. Further care is provided in hotels by teams of social workers and nurses. All contingency sites have security staff on site 24/7 and providers liaise closely with local police to ensure the welfare and safety of vulnerable residents.</p><p>Between 1 July 2021 and 31 March 2023, the NTS transferred 4,875 children to local authorities with children’s services which is over six times the number of transfers in the same time frame in previous years (between October 2019 – June 2021 there were 793 transfers).Since 15 February 2022, all local authorities with children’s services in the UK have been directed to participate in the National Transfer Scheme (NTS) to ensure UASC receive the critical care they need. We have also offered incentivised funding to local authorities to move these young people in the care system.</p><p>The data requested cannot be provided as it comes from live operational databases that have not been quality assured.</p> answering member printed Lord Murray of Blidworth question first answered 20/07/2023 16:26:47 answering member 4950 label Biography information for Lord Murray of Blidworth
	tabling member	4333 label Biography information for Lord Scriven