Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government why only three of the 25,800 unaccompanied children reported by Unicef to be in Italy have been transferred to the UK.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
In 2016, we transferred over 900 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to the UK from Europe. More children will be transferred under the Immigration Act and we will continue to meet our obligations under the Dublin Regulation. We have a long standing secondee in Italy who is based in the Italian Dublin Unit. We will announce in due course the process and criteria for transferring more children to the UK from Europe.
We continue to work with the Italian authorities to implement section 67 of the Immigration Act, and Immigration Minister met with his counterpart in November to discuss how we can support them; discussions are ongoing. We must secure the consent and cooperation of the host governments concerned before taking any action on their territory and can only act within their laws.
Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many unaccompanied minors from the Calais camp known as the Jungle have been transferred to the UK since 2 November (1) through the Dublin III family reunification route; and (2) through provision made under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
We have been working closely with the French authorities to bring eligible children eligible to the UK under the Dublin Regulation and the wider criteria of the Immigration Act. Since 10 October, more than 750 children have arrived.
This is in line with the commitments made by the Home Secretary to Parliament on 24 October. We will publish a total number of transfers as a result of the operation in France in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of their commitment to resettle 3,000 unaccompanied minors from the Middle East and North Africa, how many have been resettled in the UK to date.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Vulnerable Childrens Resettlement (VCR) scheme has been designed with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to resettle ‘vulnerable children’ and their families from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
The Government has committed to resettling several hundred individuals in the first year with a view to resettling up to 3,000 individuals over the lifetime of this Parliament. Children who are identified as at risk will be resettled with their family members or carers where appropriate. The Home Office is committed to publishing data in an orderly way as part of the regular quarterly Immigration Statistics, in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. The figures for the VCR scheme will be published in the usual way, and will feature in future releases of the Home Office’s immigration quarterly statistics. We will not be providing a running commentary.
Asked by: Baroness Sheehan (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of their target to resettle 20,000 people via the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Programme, how many have been resettled in the UK to date.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
The Home Office is committed to publishing data in an orderly way as part of the regular quarterly Immigration Statistics, in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics.
Latest statistics published on 1 December confirmed that a total of 4,414 Syrians have been resettled under the scheme since it began, 4,162 of these arriving in the 12 months to the end of September 2016.