Asked by: Baroness Massey of Darwen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Home Office staff are working on resettlement under the family reunion provisions of the Dublin Regulation in (1) France, (2) Greece, and (3) Italy.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Government has transferred more than 900 unaccompanied children to the UK this year under both the family reunification provisions of the Dublin Regulation and the terms of section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016. This includes more than 750 children from France as part of the UK’s support for the Calais camp clearance almost half of the unaccompanied children who were in the camp at the time of the clearance.
We have consulted local authorities on their capacity to care for unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children and will publish the total number of children to be transferred under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 in due course.
In July, the Home Office increased the funding provided to local authorities by up to 33 percent for the care and support of unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children. The recent operation to transfer children from Calais involved over 300 officials at home and abroad and the Government continues to work closely with partners across Europe to ensure the timely and effective operation of the Dublin Regulation. We have seconded experts to France and Greece, and we have a long standing secondee in Italy to support the work on unaccompanied asylum seeking children in Europe, including the Dublin Regulation.
Asked by: Baroness Massey of Darwen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many Home Office staff are working on resettlement under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 in (1) France, (2) Greece, and (3) Italy.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Government has transferred more than 900 unaccompanied children to the UK this year under both the family reunification provisions of the Dublin Regulation and the terms of section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016. This includes more than 750 children from France as part of the UK’s support for the Calais camp clearance almost half of the unaccompanied children who were in the camp at the time of the clearance.
We have consulted local authorities on their capacity to care for unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children and will publish the total number of children to be transferred under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 in due course.
In July, the Home Office increased the funding provided to local authorities by up to 33 percent for the care and support of unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children. The recent operation to transfer children from Calais involved over 300 officials at home and abroad and the Government continues to work closely with partners across Europe to ensure the timely and effective operation of the Dublin Regulation. We have seconded experts to France and Greece, and we have a long standing secondee in Italy to support the work on unaccompanied asylum seeking children in Europe, including the Dublin Regulation.
Asked by: Baroness Massey of Darwen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the capacity of local authorities to resettle child refugees; and what steps they are taking to secure that capacity.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Government has transferred more than 900 unaccompanied children to the UK this year under both the family reunification provisions of the Dublin Regulation and the terms of section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016. This includes more than 750 children from France as part of the UK’s support for the Calais camp clearance almost half of the unaccompanied children who were in the camp at the time of the clearance.
We have consulted local authorities on their capacity to care for unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children and will publish the total number of children to be transferred under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 in due course.
In July, the Home Office increased the funding provided to local authorities by up to 33 percent for the care and support of unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children. The recent operation to transfer children from Calais involved over 300 officials at home and abroad and the Government continues to work closely with partners across Europe to ensure the timely and effective operation of the Dublin Regulation. We have seconded experts to France and Greece, and we have a long standing secondee in Italy to support the work on unaccompanied asylum seeking children in Europe, including the Dublin Regulation.
Asked by: Baroness Massey of Darwen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many children have been brought to the UK in 2016 under the family reunion provisions of the Dublin Regulation from (1) France, (2) Greece, and (3) Italy.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Government has transferred more than 900 unaccompanied children to the UK this year under both the family reunification provisions of the Dublin Regulation and the terms of section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016. This includes more than 750 children from France as part of the UK’s support for the Calais camp clearance almost half of the unaccompanied children who were in the camp at the time of the clearance.
We have consulted local authorities on their capacity to care for unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children and will publish the total number of children to be transferred under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 in due course.
In July, the Home Office increased the funding provided to local authorities by up to 33 percent for the care and support of unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children. The recent operation to transfer children from Calais involved over 300 officials at home and abroad and the Government continues to work closely with partners across Europe to ensure the timely and effective operation of the Dublin Regulation. We have seconded experts to France and Greece, and we have a long standing secondee in Italy to support the work on unaccompanied asylum seeking children in Europe, including the Dublin Regulation.
Asked by: Baroness Massey of Darwen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many children have been brought to the UK in 2016 under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 from (1) France, (2) Greece, and (3) Italy.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The Government has transferred more than 900 unaccompanied children to the UK this year under both the family reunification provisions of the Dublin Regulation and the terms of section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016. This includes more than 750 children from France as part of the UK’s support for the Calais camp clearance almost half of the unaccompanied children who were in the camp at the time of the clearance.
We have consulted local authorities on their capacity to care for unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children and will publish the total number of children to be transferred under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 in due course.
In July, the Home Office increased the funding provided to local authorities by up to 33 percent for the care and support of unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children. The recent operation to transfer children from Calais involved over 300 officials at home and abroad and the Government continues to work closely with partners across Europe to ensure the timely and effective operation of the Dublin Regulation. We have seconded experts to France and Greece, and we have a long standing secondee in Italy to support the work on unaccompanied asylum seeking children in Europe, including the Dublin Regulation.
Asked by: Baroness Massey of Darwen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government why the UK is not represented on the Committee of Parties to the Council of Europe Convention on the Protection of Children Against Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Shadow Chief Whip (Lords)
The UK signed the Council of Europe's Convention on the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse in 2008.
The UK is not currently represented on the Committee as we are yet to ratify the Convention. Home Office officials are working with the devolved administrations, overseas territories and Crown dependencies, and leading the work to examine what needs to be done under domestic legislation and in terms of practical arrangements before the whole of the UK can be assessed to be fully compliant and in a position to ratify.
The Government takes its international commitments very seriously and will only commit to formal ratification when it is absolutely satisfied that the whole of the UK complies with all articles.
Asked by: Baroness Massey of Darwen (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many children seeking asylum in the UK they estimate not to be in education, and for how long; and what steps they plan to take to tackle this issue.
Answered by Lord Bates
Education is a devolved matter. Parents of children of compulsory school age have a duty to ensure their children receive a full time education suitable to the children’s age, ability, aptitude and any special education need the children might have, either by regular attendance at a school or otherwise.
Where a child of compulsory school age (including children of asylum seekers) is not registered at a school or receiving an education other than at a school, the relevant local authority has the power to require that parent to satisfy them as to the suitability of the education being provided for that child.
If they are not satisfied then the local authority can require the child to register at a named school. However, the issue of education provision for children seeking asylum is an important one and the Home Office makes every effort to ensure that families with children who claim asylum support have access to education at the earliest opportunity.