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771564

	registered interest
	date	16/10/2017
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Refugees: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how her Department's policy on unaccompanied child refugees is informed by the principle of putting children's best interests at the centre of all decision-making, as set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	107990
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 25/10/2017 answer text <p>Section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 requires the Home Office to ensure that its immigration, asylum, nationality and customs functions are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children who are in the United Kingdom.</p><p>This includes ensuring that the best interests of the child must be a primary consideration in every decision taken in respect of them. These arrangements are reflected in the Home Office’s rules, policy and guidance that relate to the handling of decisions made in respect of children.</p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 25/10/2017 16:11:56 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

772249

	registered interest
	date	17/10/2017
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Refugees: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied migrant children in the UK have been moved to at least two different local authorities since their arrival.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	108253
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/10/2017 answer text <p>The Home Office does not currently publish data on unaccompanied migrant children’s movements between local authorities in its quarterly statistics release.</p><p>The published data on unaccompanied asylum seeking children can be found at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2017/how-many-people-do-we-grant-asylum-or-protection-to#unaccompanied-asylum-seeking-children" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2017/how-many-people-do-we-grant-asylum-or-protection-to#unaccompanied-asylum-seeking-children</a>.</p><p>There are over 4,000 unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC) in local authority care in the UK. The National Transfer Scheme was launched on 1 July 2016 and has been working to ensure a fairer allocation of UASC across the UK. A significant number of local authorities have participated in the scheme and enabled the transfer of children away from local authorities with a disproportionate number of UASC in their care.</p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 20/10/2017 13:58:04 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

771562

	registered interest
	date	16/10/2017
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Refugees: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if her Department will introduce a central database of unaccompanied children entering the UK.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	107991
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 19/10/2017 answer text <p>All asylum claimants, including unaccompanied children, are recorded on the Home Office’s Case Information Database (CID) system. Information recorded on this system is used to publish a range of data about asylum claims from unaccompanied children, which can be found at <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2017/how-many-people-do-we-grant-asylum-or-protection-to" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2017/how-many-people-do-we-grant-asylum-or-protection-to</a></p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 19/10/2017 17:01:06 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

772251

	registered interest
	date	17/10/2017
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Refugees: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the effect of closing the refugee camp in Calais on the availability of data on unaccompanied child refugees; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	108251
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 20/10/2017 answer text <p>The primary responsibility for unaccompanied children in France lies with the French government. Following the closure of the Calais Camp, French authorities transferred all children formerly resident to specialist centres across France. It is vital that children claim asylum in France; that is the fastest route to safety.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>We have a strong track record of cooperating with France to manage the situation in Calais and to protect our shared border. We supported the humanitarian operation to clear the Calais migrant camp in October 2016, which involved the transfer of more than 750 children to the UK and funding to help provide migrants in Calais – including children – with suitable facilities elsewhere in France. Our law enforcement agencies work closely together to</p><p>tackle smuggling and trafficking. Home Office officials meet with their French colleagues on a regular basis.</p><p> </p><p>According to Eurostat data, 63,300 unaccompanied children claimed asylum in the EU in 2016:</p><p><a href="http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/8016696/3-11052017-AP-EN.pdf/30ca2206-0db9-4076-a681-e069a4bc5290" target="_blank">http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/8016696/3-11052017-AP-EN.pdf/30ca2206-0db9-4076-a681-e069a4bc5290</a></p><p> </p><p>This includes a breakdown of asylum applications by EU Member State.</p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 20/10/2017 13:58:26 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

769911

	registered interest
	date	12/10/2017
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Refugees: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on which the principal pull factors are for unaccompanied children choosing to come to the UK; and if she will make a statement.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	107559
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 18/10/2017 answer text <p>The Government’s clear strategy has always been that we do not want to encourage people traffickers and incentivise perilous journeys to Europe, particularly by the most vulnerable children.</p><p> </p><p>Our policy is to support families to stay together and we have granted over 24,000 family reunion visas over the last five years. We are clear, from discussions with other Member States, that any schemes to transfer unaccompanied should not act as a draw. The Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement Scheme is a bespoke scheme to resettle 3,000 vulnerable children together with their families directly from the Middle East and North Africa region.</p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 18/10/2017 12:11:04 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

773257

	registered interest
	date	18/10/2017
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Refugees: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to review the eligibility criteria for the Dubs scheme; and whether children who have arrived in Europe after the EU-Turkey deal on 20 March 2016 will be eligible for transfer under that scheme.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	108379
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/10/2017 answer text <p>The Government is fully committed to transferring 480 unaccompanied children from Europe under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 and transfers are ongoing. To be eligible, children must have been present in Europe before 20 March 2016, and it be determined, following individual assessment, that it would be in their best interest to be transferred to the UK.</p><p>Member States have been asked to prioritise those likely to qualify for refugee status and the most vulnerable. The requirement to be present in Europe before 20 March 2016 has been in place since the passage of section 67 in May 2016, and supports the principle that the scheme should not act as a pull factor for further children to make dangerous journeys to Europe.</p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 23/10/2017 12:01:26 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

773255

	registered interest
	date	18/10/2017
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Refugees: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department has taken to ensure provision of legal assistance for unaccompanied migrant children in the UK.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	108381
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/10/2017 answer text <p>Unaccompanied asylum seeking children are placed into the care of local authorities and are provided with specialised legal advice and support.</p><p>The Home Office works closely with the Legal Aid Agency, which administers the legal aid provision, to ensure that there is sufficient legal assistance coverage throughout the UK. In addition, assistance in accessing legal advice is available from the child’s social worker, the Refugee Council Children’s Panel of Advisors for children in England and the Scottish Guardianship Service for children in Scotland.</p> answering member constituency Great Yarmouth answering member printed Brandon Lewis question first answered 23/10/2017 11:46:31 answering member 4009 label Biography information for Sir Brandon Lewis
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

677575

	registered interest
	date	23/01/2017
	answering body	Home Office
	answering dept id	1
	answering dept short name	Home Office
	answering dept sort name	Home Office
	hansard heading	Refugees: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she plans to take in the next three months to support child refugees who arrived from Syria.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	61233
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 26/01/2017 answer text <p>All unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children in the UK receive care and support from a local authority, regardless of nationality or how they arrived in the country.</p><p> </p><p>On 1 November 2016, the Immigration Minister and the Minister for Vulnerable Children and Families announced that the Government would publish a safeguarding strategy for unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children. The detail of the strategy can be found at: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/safeguarding-unaccompanied-asylum-seeking-and-refugee-children" target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/safeguarding-unaccompanied-asylum-seeking-and-refugee-children</a></p><p> </p><p>Children resettled under our Syrian Vulnerable Person’s Resettlement scheme or our Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement scheme are provided with education, housing, medical or social care as required.</p> answering member constituency Scarborough and Whitby answering member printed Mr Robert Goodwill question first answered 26/01/2017 08:09:05 answering member 1562 label Biography information for Sir Robert Goodwill
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms

691987

	registered interest
	date	20/02/2017
	answering body	Department for International Development
	answering dept id	20
	answering dept short name	International Development
	answering dept sort name	International Development
	hansard heading	Refugees: Children
	house id	1
	legislature	25259 pref label House of Commons
	question text	To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to protect child refugees from exploitation, human trafficking and sexual violence.
	tabling member constituency	East Ham
	tabling member printed	Stephen Timms
	uin	64692
	answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/02/2017 answer text <p>Through our support to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, we protect children from violence, abuse, and exploitation. DFID also has specific programming targeting displaced children. For example, UK Aid in Syria and the region has provided over 920,000 children with psychosocial support, such as mental health care or psychosocial counselling.</p> answering member constituency Penrith and The Border answering member printed Rory Stewart question first answered 23/02/2017 17:49:25 answering member 4137 label Biography information for Rory Stewart
	tabling member	163 label Biography information for Sir Stephen Timms