The guidance pack issued to local authorities in England, Wales and Scotland and to Health and Social Care Trusts in Northern Ireland on 3 April is not statutory guidance. The pack puts together in one place, information readily available on gov.uk to provide a useful tool for front line local authority and HSCT staff tasked with supporting looked after children and care leavers. The Children Act 1989 provides the legal framework for local authorities to promote the child\u2019s welfare and best interests, setting out statutory duties in relation to looked after children in England, with respective authorities for the devolved administrations. Statutory guidance is provided by Department for Education in relation to this. This statutory duty to promote best interests, coupled with funding provided to local authorities under a new burdens as-sessment should ensure that this important work will be done.<\/p>
The Home Office engaged with the Department for Education, the Association of Directors Childrens Services and other Local Authority stakeholders across the UK in advance of publishing the guidance. The Home Office also conducted a private trial phase of testing where five local authorities were asked for detailed information on the children in their care eligible to apply to the EUSS, including what ID evidence they had access to and family situations in order to ascertain difficulties in obtaining identity documents.<\/p>
The participating local authorities, along with the seven other community organisations participating in the trial phase provided detailed feedback on challenges they encountered during the test phase, which was considered before drafting the guidance.<\/p>
The Home Office is committed to continuing to engage with local authorities as they undertake their responsibilities to ensure that all eligible looked after children and care leavers are supported to make an application to the EUSS. The Home Office will ensure that caseworkers liaise with and support applicants to get the status they require.<\/p>
We consulted with the Department for Education in advance of publishing the guidance to ensure adequate consideration was given to other categories of looked after children, where the local authority does not hold full PR, under section 20 of the Children Act 1989. It has been confirmed that in those cases there is a duty on the local authority to raise awareness of the EU Set-tlement Scheme to those with PR for those eligible child(ren) and to provide practical support where needed, or signpost to relevant community support where deemed more appropriate to do so.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4311", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Baroness Williams of Trafford"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-08-08", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "groupedQuestionUIN" : {"_value" : "HL17517"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-08-08T11:45:27.913Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-07-25", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Immigration: EU Nationals"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government whether the guidance issued by the Home Office to local authorities and Health and Social Care Trusts on 2 April EU Settlement Scheme\u2014Looked After Children and Care Leavers' is mandatory.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/2652", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Baroness Hamwee"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "Baroness Hamwee"} ], "uin" : "HL17516"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1141911", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Home Office"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1141911/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
There are no official figures for the number of cases subject to no recourse to public funds restrictions. Families including children may be subject to such restrictions as a consequence of their immigration status where they have been granted temporary leave to remain, or where they require leave but do not have it. The expectation is that the majority of people granted time-limited leave under the Immigration Rules, including those entering as visitors, workers, students and those on the path to settlement, will support themselves without placing pressures on taxpayers.<\/p>
Families granted time-limited leave in the family and private life route can request the Home Office to lift conditions restricting access to public funds to avoid destitution. The Home Office provides support to asylum seekers and works closely with local authorities operating duties to support those with community care needs, including families with children.<\/p>"} , "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4311", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford"} } , "answeringMemberPrinted" : {"_value" : "Baroness Williams of Trafford"} , "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-08-07", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-08-07T14:19:09.257Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} ]} , "answeringDeptId" : {"_value" : "1"} , "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"} , "answeringDeptSortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"} , "date" : {"_value" : "2019-07-24", "_datatype" : "dateTime"} , "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Migrants: Children"} , "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"} , "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"} } ], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 23 July (HL Deb, cols 668\u201370), how many children have been affected by having no recourse to public funds in each of the 54 local authorities; and what estimate they have made of the total number of children so affected.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"} , "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4312", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for The Lord Bishop of Durham"} } , "tablingMemberPrinted" : [{"_value" : "The Lord Bishop of Durham"} ], "uin" : "HL17455"} , {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1141928", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Home Office"} ], "answer" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1141928/answer", "answerText" : {"_value" : "
On 5th September 2018, the former Prime Minister updated the House of Commons on the investigation into the two suspects involved in the Salisbury attack. The Prime Minister confirmed that traces of Novichok were found at the City Stay Hotel in Bow Road, east London, where the suspects stayed. This statement was repeated in the House of Lords on the same day by the Leader of the House of Lords. This can be found in Hansard Vol 792, col.1799 http://bit.ly/2ycrsCk. <\/a><\/p> The Chief Medical Officer made it clear in her statement on the 5th September 2018 that the room was only allowed back into use after experts deemed it to be safe.<\/p>"}
, "answeringMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/4311", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Baroness Williams of Trafford"}
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, "attachment" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1141928/answer/attachment/1", "fileName" : {"_value" : "Statement - Sailsbury.docx"}
, "title" : "Statement - Sailsbury "}
, "dateOfAnswer" : {"_value" : "2019-08-07", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "isMinisterialCorrection" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "questionFirstAnswered" : [{"_value" : "2019-08-07T14:45:06.143Z", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
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, "answeringDeptShortName" : {"_value" : "Home Office"}
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, "date" : {"_value" : "2019-07-24", "_datatype" : "dateTime"}
, "hansardHeading" : {"_value" : "Chemical Weapons: Greater London"}
, "houseId" : {"_value" : "2"}
, "legislature" : [{"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/terms/25277", "prefLabel" : {"_value" : "House of Lords"}
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], "questionText" : "To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of reports that traces of Novichok nerve agents were discovered in the London accommodation used by the two Russian suspects in the attacks in Salisbury in March 2018.", "registeredInterest" : {"_value" : "false", "_datatype" : "boolean"}
, "tablingMember" : {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/members/883", "label" : {"_value" : "Biography information for Lord Jopling"}
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, {"_about" : "http://data.parliament.uk/resources/1141930", "AnsweringBody" : [{"_value" : "Home Office"}
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