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1345598

	registered interest
	date	12/07/2021
	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	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	What recent progress her Department has made on implementing the new National Transfer Scheme.
	tabling member constituency	Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner
	tabling member printed	David Simmonds
	uin	902530
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/07/2021 answer text <p>We are working towards implementing the new, fairer national voluntary rota on 26 July. The package of support we have put in place for local authorities includes £20m of additional funding and expert support on age assessment.</p><p>This will encourage more local authorities to step up and play their part in this shared national responsibility of supporting vulnerable unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.</p> answering member constituency Croydon South answering member printed Chris Philp question first answered 12/07/2021 16:02:02 answering member 4503 label Biography information for Chris Philp
	tabling member	4872 label Biography information for David Simmonds

1171235

	registered interest
	date	16/01/2020
	answering body	Attorney General
	answering dept id	88
	answering dept short name	Attorney General
	answering dept sort name	Attorney General
	hansard heading	Asylum: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	What discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the legal implications of Clause 37 of the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill.
	tabling member constituency	Glasgow North West
	tabling member printed	Carol Monaghan
	uin	900234
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 16/01/2020 answer text <p>I cannot comment on Cabinet discussions, or on whether or not I have given legal advice.</p><p> </p><p>What I can say is that the Government remains fully committed to the principle of family reunion and supporting the most vulnerable children. Clause 37 of the Withdrawal Agreement Bill does not represent a change of government policy in that regard. It simply removes the statutory requirement to negotiate.</p> answering member constituency Torridge and West Devon answering member printed Mr Geoffrey Cox question first answered 16/01/2020 15:47:34 answering member 1508 label Biography information for Sir Geoffrey Cox
	tabling member	4443 label Biography information for Carol Monaghan

1583320

	registered interest
	date	02/02/2023
	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	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to with reference to the response to the Urgent Question on 24 January 2023 on Unaccompanied Asylum-seeking Children, Official Report column 865 what his findings were following his commitment to look into the Scottish guardianship model; and if he will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	138304
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 10/02/2023 answer text <p>We do not currently have any findings to share relating to the Scottish Guardianship Model.</p><p>However, this Government takes its responsibility for the welfare of migrant children very seriously. We have comprehensive statutory and policy safeguards in place for caring for and safeguarding unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC).</p><p>Social workers and the courts are best placed to make decisions for vulnerable children, in consideration of all the factors involved in often complex cases. Children should be cared for in a way that recognises and respects their identity and carers should be given the training and support they need to meet the child’s needs.</p><p>Local authorities are responsible for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of all children in their area, including their mental health and emotional wellbeing needs, regardless of their immigration status. Independent Child Trafficking Guardians (ICTGs) are provided in addition to this statutory support and are an additional source of advice and support for potentially trafficked children, irrespective of nationality, and somebody who can advocate on their behalf.</p><p> </p><p>Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children can access legal advice from qualified legal representatives and, in England, independent advice and assistance on the asylum process and in their interactions with government agencies is available from the Refugee Council’s Independent Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children Support Service (IUSS).</p> answering member constituency Newark answering member printed Robert Jenrick question first answered 10/02/2023 14:21:36 answering member 4320 label Biography information for Robert Jenrick
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1580902

	registered interest
	date	25/01/2023
	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	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the response to the Urgent Question on Unaccompanied Asylum-seeking Children on 24 January 2023, Official Report, column 859, whether all (a) contractors and (b) other staff in contact with children housed in bridging hotels are Disclosure and Barring Service checked.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	132331
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 02/02/2023 answer text <p>All individuals working directly with the young people accommodated at the hotels have Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service checks, and all those working or operating on the hotel sites have DBS clearance.</p> answering member constituency Newark answering member printed Robert Jenrick question first answered 02/02/2023 14:57:43 answering member 4320 label Biography information for Robert Jenrick
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1580918

	registered interest
	date	25/01/2023
	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	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the response to the Urgent Question on 24 January 2023 on Unaccompanied Asylum-seeking Children, Official Report column 861, what assessment she has made of the capacity of local authorities to offer foster care placements to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	132337
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 07/02/2023 answer text <p>The following lines have been provided by the Department for Education as they have lead responsibility for this policy area:</p><p>The Department for Education is committed to ensuring that all Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children accommodated in hotels by the Home Office are transferred through the National Transfer Scheme to the care of a local authority as quickly as possible. DfE is also committed to ensuring that capacity challenges in local authorities are addressed, including through our forthcoming response to the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care.</p><p>DfE knows that the right type of foster care may not always be available at the time or in the areas it is needed, and that there is significant variability across regions of England. We also know that it is particularly difficult to find suitable foster homes for some groups of children, including unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. The department recognises the urgency of action in placement sufficiency and will work with local authorities on recruiting more foster carers and on improving the conversion rate from expressions of interest to approval. This will include local recruitment campaigns that build towards a national programme, to help ensure children have access to the right placements at the right time.</p> answering member constituency Newark answering member printed Robert Jenrick question first answered 07/02/2023 17:37:14 answering member 4320 label Biography information for Robert Jenrick
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1580903

	registered interest
	date	25/01/2023
	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	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the response to the Urgent Question on 24 January 2023 on Unaccompanied Asylum-seeking Children, Official Report column 859, whether in the welfare interview children are explicitly informed (a) that they will not be sent to Rwanda, (b) of their rights as a child seeking asylum in the UK, (c) of the risks to them of people seeking to exploit children staying in asylum hotels, (d) of advice to stay safe and (e) about how to seek help if in difficulty.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	132332
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/02/2023 answer text <p>The purpose of a welfare interview is to ascertain the physical and emotional state of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) as well as to obtain some basic information about themselves and their family, their journey to the United Kingdom and any links they may have in the United Kingdom. During the welfare interview, our UASC children are not informed of the points raised. This information is relayed to each UASC child upon arrival at their accommodation.</p> answering member constituency Newark answering member printed Robert Jenrick question first answered 03/02/2023 17:10:19 answering member 4320 label Biography information for Robert Jenrick
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1580904

	registered interest
	date	25/01/2023
	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	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the response to the Urgent Question on 24 January 2023 on Unaccompanied Asylum-seeking Children, Official Report column 859, of the 4,600 unaccompanied children that have been accommodated in hotels since July 2021, what is the (a) shortest, (b) average and (c) longest number of days that they have remained in that form of accommodation.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	132333
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/02/2023 answer text <p>All young people in interim emergency unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) hotels are referred immediately to a local authority under the mandated National Transfer Scheme (NTS) within the shortest time frame possible after arrival. We are clear that we must end the use of hotels as soon as possible. To that end, we are providing local authorities with children’s services with £15,000 for every eligible young person they take into their care from a dedicated UASC hotel, or the Reception and Safe Care Service in Kent, by the end of February 2023.</p><p>The unprecedented number of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) in small boats has placed significant local authority care places for UASC under immense strain. There were 5,152 asylum applications from unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in the year ending September 2022, a 36% increase compared with 2019 (3,775).</p><p>Out of necessity, and with the best interests of the child in mind, we have had no alternative but to temporarily use hotels to give some unaccompanied children a roof over their heads whilst local authority accommodation is found.</p><p>The time it takes for a local authority to identify a placement varies and has meant some young people experiencing delays in transferring. Where there are significant delays we will look to reallocate the young person to a different local authority.</p><p>There are many reasons for delays in NTS. For instance, delays also occur where a child refuses to transfer to the placement. In this instance, social workers from the emergency hotels and local authorities work close with the children to encourage them to take the offered placement.</p><p>The length of stay for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) in Home Office UASC hotels are:</p><p>Shortest stay – 0 days</p><p>Longest stay – 122 days</p><p>Average length of stay: 19.04 days</p> answering member constituency Newark answering member printed Robert Jenrick question first answered 08/02/2023 11:58:44 answering member 4320 label Biography information for Robert Jenrick
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1580905

	registered interest
	date	25/01/2023
	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	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the response to the Urgent Question on 24 January 2023 on Unaccompanied Asylum-seeking Children, Official Report column 859, of the 200 children who remain missing, what information does her Department hold on the number of days each child has been missing; and if she will make it her policy to publish regular data on the number of (a) children missing from bridging hotels and (b) days those children have been missing.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	132334
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/02/2023 answer text <p>There are currently no children missing from bridging hotels; bridging hotels are not utilised for asylum accommodation and do not house Unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC).</p><p>There are no plans to publicly publish data around missing UASC as this data is not held in a reportable format and it would require a manual search of records which would incur a disproportionate cost.</p> answering member constituency Newark answering member printed Robert Jenrick question first answered 03/02/2023 16:59:13 answering member 4320 label Biography information for Robert Jenrick
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1580906

	registered interest
	date	25/01/2023
	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	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the response to the Urgent Question on 24 January 2023 on Unaccompanied Asylum-seeking Children, Official Report column 859, of 240 missing children that have subsequently been located, whether attempts were made to obtain information from the children on (a) why they went missing, (b) how they went missing and (c) what their experience was whilst missing; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	Brighton, Pavilion
	tabling member printed	Caroline Lucas
	uin	132335
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/02/2023 answer text <p>We are considering all options available to ensure unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) receive the critical care they need and to end the use of hotels. We have robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in hotels are as safe and supported as possible as we seek urgent placements with a local authority.</p><p>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.</p><p>Records are kept and monitored of children leaving and returning to the hotel. Support workers will accompany children off site on activities and social excursions, or in this instance where specific vulnerabilities are identified.  The Home Office has no power to hold children in hotels or any temporary accommodation if they wish to leave.</p><p>If a child who has gone missing is returned to the hotel, a follow up Multi Agency Stakeholder Forum (MASF) will be chaired by the LA (of the area the hotel is in) and a Social Worker at the hotel will complete a returns interview. They will then work with the child to understand the reasons for the absence.</p><p>In any instance where a child goes missing, the Home Office work around the clock with the police and local authorities to ensure the children in our care are safe. The Police are responsible for locating any missing children.</p> answering member constituency Newark answering member printed Robert Jenrick question first answered 08/02/2023 13:08:22 answering member 4320 label Biography information for Robert Jenrick
	tabling member	3930 label Biography information for Caroline Lucas

1693617

	registered interest
	date	04/03/2024
	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	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report entitled A re-inspection of the use of hotels for housing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, published by his Department in February 2024, what steps he is taking to ensure the (a) safety and (b) welfare of unaccompanied child asylum seekers in the UK.
	tabling member constituency	Slough
	tabling member printed	Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi
	uin	16978
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 12/03/2024 answer text <p>Since the two ICIBI inspections in 2022 and 2023, the Home Office has taken positive steps with our partners which has resulted in the closure of all 7 hotels for UAS children. The Home Office has provided details of its formal response to the recommendations and had already progressed activity linked to those recommendations prior to the hotels closing.</p><p>On both occasions of inspection, the ICIBI found that the children accommodated at the interim hotels reported they felt ‘happy and safe’ and spoke well of the staff caring for them.</p> answering member constituency Corby answering member printed Tom Pursglove grouped question UIN 16977 question first answered 12/03/2024 12:07:53 answering member 4369 label Biography information for Tom Pursglove
	tabling member	4638 label Biography information for Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi