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1125840

registered interest
date	09/05/2019
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 Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 8 May (HLWS1504), whether they expect local authorities will offer extra placements to Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC); and whether offers from individual British families to adopt or to foster UASC will be taken up.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL15630
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 23/05/2019 answer text <p>The Home Office recognises the highly valuable work that local authorities undertake in supporting unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) and that is why we significantly increased the funding paid as a contribution to their costs. It is hoped that this will enable more local authorities to feel able to offer placements for vulnerable UASC, and we will be working with them and partners to encourage this.</p><p>It is unlikely that adoption will be an appropriate option for unaccompanied children. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees, as well as other humanitarian charities, advise that no new adoption applications should be considered in the period after a disaster or fleeing from war. It is not uncommon for children in these circumstances to be temporarily separated from their parents or other family members who may be looking for them. Efforts to reunite children with relatives or extended family should therefore be given priority.</p><p>Foster parents are recruited by fostering services which include local authorities or independent fostering agencies. The decision to let someone foster a child, including UASC, is a very important one to get right. Anyone who wants to become a foster parent must undergo a full assessment and be approved by a fostering service before any child can be placed in their care. Regulations set out in detail the requirements of the approval process, including the information that must be collected in the assessment and the requirement for a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. In 2013 Department for Education streamlined and strengthened the assessment and approval process for foster carers, introducing a two-stage process to ensure efficiency and transparency.</p><p>Existing foster parents may also be able to provide suitable homes for unaccompanied children and over the past two years the Department for Education has funded over 2000 training places for existing foster parents and support workers who wish to care for UASC, with places being prioritised for local authorities participating in the National Transfer Scheme.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 23/05/2019 15:45:23 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

1092462

registered interest
date	20/03/2019
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 Her Majesty's Government how many unaccompanied children seeking asylum who have not yet received a decision on their case have been waiting for a decision for (1) over two years, (2) 18 months to two years, (3) one year to 18 months, and (4) six months to one year.
tabling member printed	Baroness Stroud
uin	HL14716
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/04/2019 answer text <p><del class="ministerial">The Home Office does not publish this data in the format requested, however we are committed to publishing more detailed figures in future data releases.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">We are able to provide a breakdown of total applications pending by duration (±6 months), but we can’t separately identify UASC’s in the dataset. The table has been reproduced below:</del></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Pending Duration (Initial Decision)</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">Main applicants</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">Main + dependants</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">More than 6 months</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">12,213</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">16,555</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial">Less than 6 months</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">15,043</del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial">19,300</del></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><del class="ministerial"><strong>Total</strong></del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial"><strong>27,256</strong></del></p></td><td><p><del class="ministerial"><strong>35,855</strong></del></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><del class="ministerial">The Home Office takes its responsibility for the welfare of children very seriously, including ensuring that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration in every decision taken in respect of the child. There are stringent statutory and policy safeguards in place in the asylum process for unaccompanied children, in recognition of their additional needs.</del></p><p><del class="ministerial">Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are looked after by local authorities who have a statutory duty to ensure that they safeguard and promote the welfare of all children, regardless of their immigration status or nationality. Under these arrangements, children are assessed with regard to their individual needs and provided with access to education, accommodation and health services, as would be provided to any other looked after child in the UK.</del></p><p> </p><p> </p><p><ins class="ministerial">The Home Office does not publish this data in the format requested, however we are committed to publishing more detailed figures in future data releases.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">We are able to provide a breakdown of total applications pending by duration (±6 months), but we can’t separately identify UASC’s in the dataset. The table has been reproduced below:</ins></p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Pending Duration (Initial Decision)</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Main applicants</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Main + dependants</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">More than 6 months</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">12,213</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">16,555</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial">Less than 6 months</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">15,043</ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial">19,300</ins></p></td></tr><tr><td><p><ins class="ministerial"><strong>Total</strong></ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial"><strong>27,256</strong></ins></p></td><td><p><ins class="ministerial"><strong>35,855</strong></ins></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p><ins class="ministerial">Children and unaccompanied children seeking asylum, like anyone else claiming asylum in the UK, can claim in two ways; either at port of entry or at one of the national intake units.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">The Home Office takes its responsibility for the welfare of children very seriously, including ensuring that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration in every decision taken in respect of the child. There are stringent statutory and policy safeguards in place in the asylum process for unaccompanied children, in recognition of their additional needs.</ins></p><p><ins class="ministerial">While in the UK, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are looked after by local authorities who have a statutory duty to ensure that they safeguard and promote the welfare of all children, regardless of their immigration status or nationality. Under these arrangements, children are assessed with regard to their individual needs and provided with access to education, accommodation and health services, as would be provided to any other looked after child in the UK.</ins></p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 03/04/2019 16:11:18 question first ministerially corrected 03/04/2019 16:24:58 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford previous answer version 111857 answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
tabling member	4546 label Biography information for Baroness Stroud

1092463

registered interest
date	20/03/2019
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 Her Majesty's Government how many unaccompanied children seeking asylum who have received a decision on their case in the last 18 months were waiting for a decision for (1) over two years, (2) 18 months to two years, (3) one year to 18 months, and (4) six months to one year.
tabling member printed	Baroness Stroud
uin	HL14717
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 03/04/2019 answer text <p>The Home Office does not publish this data in the format requested, however we are committed to publishing more detailed figures in future data releases.</p><p>We are able to provide a breakdown of total applications pending by duration (±6 months), but we can’t separately identify UASC’s in the dataset. The table has been reproduced below:</p><p> </p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Pending Duration (Initial Decision)</p></td><td><p>Main applicants</p></td><td><p>Main + dependants</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>More than 6 months</p></td><td><p>12,213</p></td><td><p>16,555</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>Less than 6 months</p></td><td><p>15,043</p></td><td><p>19,300</p></td></tr><tr><td><p><strong>Total</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>27,256</strong></p></td><td><p><strong>35,855</strong></p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Children and unaccompanied children seeking asylum, like anyone else claiming asylum in the UK, can claim in two ways; either at port of entry or at one of the national intake units.</p><p>The Home Office takes its responsibility for the welfare of children very seriously, including ensuring that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration in every decision taken in respect of the child. There are stringent statutory and policy safeguards in place in the asylum process for unaccompanied children, in recognition of their additional needs.</p><p>While in the UK, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are looked after by local authorities who have a statutory duty to ensure that they safeguard and promote the welfare of all children, regardless of their immigration status or nationality. Under these arrangements, children are assessed with regard to their individual needs and provided with access to education, accommodation and health services, as would be provided to any other looked after child in the UK.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 03/04/2019 16:25:35 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
tabling member	4546 label Biography information for Baroness Stroud

1083781

registered interest
date	07/03/2019
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 Her Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that all asylum seeking children have access to legal aid and advice.
tabling member printed	Lord Roberts of Llandudno
uin	HL14344
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 21/03/2019 answer text <p>Unaccompanied asylum seeking children in the UK are placed into the care of local authorities and are provided with specialised legal advice and support throughout this period.</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 Advice Project for children in England and the Scottish Guardianship Service for children in Scotland.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 21/03/2019 15:20:08 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
tabling member	3691 label Biography information for Lord Roberts of Llandudno

934642

registered interest
date	04/07/2018
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 Her Majesty's Government what responses they received to letters from the then Home Secretary to her counterparts in 2017 in France, Greece and Italy inviting referrals of eligible unaccompanied asylum-seeking children for transfer to the UK; how many referrals have been made since; and how many have been accepted.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL9219
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/07/2018 answer text <p>The previous Home Secretary received responses from each of the participating States and we have since been working with each of them at a Ministerial and official level to ensure safe transfer of unaccompanied children to the UK. We have received referrals from all participating States and the process is ongoing.</p><p>We remain fully committed to delivering our commitment to transfer the specified number of 480 children under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 and are working very closely with participating States, to deliver the scheme in line with their national laws. Over 220 children are already in the UK. We will not provide a running commentary on numbers and will publish the details once all children are in the UK.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 13/07/2018 11:55:50 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

934643

registered interest
date	04/07/2018
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 Her Majesty's Government what assessment they made of the willingness of families, churches and rotary groups to sponsor and care for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children when they announced in April 2017 that they UK would take 480 children from Europe.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL9220
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/07/2018 answer text <p>Under the Children Act 1989, and relevant legislation in the devolved nations, local authorities have a responsibility to look after children in need in their jurisdiction. In accordance with section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016, we consulted with local authorities on their capacity to care for unaccompanied children before announcing the specified number of 480. This is in addition to the over 4,500 unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC), already in local authority care in the UK. In light of this statutory duty, we have no plans to extend caring responsibilities for unaccompanied asylum seeking children in this way.</p><p>A scheme to allow community groups to directly sponsor a resettled refugee family was launched by the then Home Secretary and Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace on 19 July 2016. The Full Community Sponsorship scheme enables community groups including charities, faith groups, churches and businesses, to take on the role of supporting resettled refugees in the UK. A ‘Help Refugees in the UK’ webpage has also been developed on GOV.UK to make it easier for the public to support refugees in the UK and allow local authorities to focus support on the goods and services that refugees need.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 13/07/2018 12:26:41 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

934483

registered interest
date	03/07/2018
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 Her Majesty's Government whether any progress was made at the recent European Council on the issue of the protection, support, education, and health of unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors already in European countries; and on the early identification of those who have close family links with the UK.
tabling member printed	Lord Hylton
uin	HL9164
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 13/07/2018 answer text <p>The focus of the June European Council was migration, there was no specific discussion of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. The Council agreed to reform the Common European Asylum System which provides minimum standards for the treatment of all asylum seekers and the functioning of the Dublin Regulation.</p><p>The Government continues to work closely with EU Member States to enact the safe transfers of unaccompanied children who have claimed asylum in another Member State to be transferred here to have their asylum claim assessed if they have a qualifying family member legally present in the UK and transfer would be in their best interests.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 13/07/2018 11:53:25 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
tabling member	2018 label Biography information for Lord Hylton

908914

registered interest
date	21/05/2018
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 Her Majesty's Government within what period they aim to process asylum applications from children in Calais; and what steps they are taking to ensure such applications are processed within that period.
tabling member printed	Lord Roberts of Llandudno
uin	HL8076
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2018 answer text <p>Those transferred from France, whether it is under the Dublin III Regulation or section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016, are transferred as quickly as possible, and on arrival to the UK, will immediately enter the asylum system in the UK. Their asylum claim will be processed in line with our published guidance. We are under no obligation to consider asylum claims lodged outside UK territory, and we do not transfer those granted refugee status in another Member State to the UK.</p><p>The Home Office currently has a service standard to make a decision on straight forward asylum claims within 6 months of the date of claim. The Home Office has clear internal guidance on the management of asylum claims and the factors that can lead to a case being designated as ‘non straight forward’. These cases are proactively managed to ensure barriers are cleared and decisions are made as soon as possible. Where a case is designated as ‘non straight forward the claimant will be informed of the delay to the decision.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford grouped question UIN HL8077 question first answered 04/06/2018 15:49:17 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
tabling member	3691 label Biography information for Lord Roberts of Llandudno

908915

registered interest
date	21/05/2018
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 Her Majesty's Government what provisions they will make to ensure that child asylum seekers in Calais who have had their applications successfully processed are brought over to the UK.
tabling member printed	Lord Roberts of Llandudno
uin	HL8077
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 04/06/2018 answer text <p>Those transferred from France, whether it is under the Dublin III Regulation or section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016, are transferred as quickly as possible, and on arrival to the UK, will immediately enter the asylum system in the UK. Their asylum claim will be processed in line with our published guidance. We are under no obligation to consider asylum claims lodged outside UK territory, and we do not transfer those granted refugee status in another Member State to the UK.</p><p>The Home Office currently has a service standard to make a decision on straight forward asylum claims within 6 months of the date of claim. The Home Office has clear internal guidance on the management of asylum claims and the factors that can lead to a case being designated as ‘non straight forward’. These cases are proactively managed to ensure barriers are cleared and decisions are made as soon as possible. Where a case is designated as ‘non straight forward the claimant will be informed of the delay to the decision.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford grouped question UIN HL8076 question first answered 04/06/2018 15:49:17 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
tabling member	3691 label Biography information for Lord Roberts of Llandudno

890699

registered interest
date	24/04/2018
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 Her Majesty's Government, when they closed down the National Register for Unaccompanied Children in 2011, whether any (1) data on unaccompanied children, and (2) information regarding missing children and human trafficking concerns, was retained by central government.
tabling member printed	Baroness Doocey
uin	HL7221
answer	answer is ministerial correction date of answer 08/05/2018 answer text <p>The National Register for Unaccompanied Children (NRUC) was not administered by central Government. When the NRUC was closed, arrangements were made to dispose of all data held on the database. No information from the register was retained by central Government.</p> answering member printed Baroness Williams of Trafford question first answered 08/05/2018 15:05:51 answering member 4311 label Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford
tabling member	4197 label Biography information for Baroness Doocey