Child Refugees

Lord Dubs Excerpts

Tuesday 25th June 2019 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Lord Dubs]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many unaccompanied child refugees have entered the United Kingdom since the beginning of 2016 under (1) section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 or (2) the provisions of the Dublin III Regulation.

[The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Williams of Trafford) (Con)]

My Lords, over 220 children were transferred to the UK under Section 67 in late 2016. Since then, we have made continuous progress towards achieving our commitment to relocate 480 unaccompanied children. Between 2016 and 2018, 426 children were transferred to the UK under Article 8.1 and 8.2 of the Dublin regulation. Since the beginning of 2016 the UK has received 9,512 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and has separately resettled 9,212 children through our resettlement schemes.

[Lord Dubs (Lab)]

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for the figures she has given. Is it not incredibly disappointing that the Government themselves set an artificial cap of 480 unaccompanied child refugees under Section 67 of the Immigration Act? So far we have taken 220; no progress is being made at all. Why are the Government so reluctant to do what Parliament agreed we should do?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

My Lords, the Government are not reluctant to do what Parliament asked them to do: the 480 figure was based on local authorities’ abilities to take children. I know the noble Lord understands that. As to the 220, we can only move as fast as France, in particular, will allow us to in putting down children’s names for transfer to the UK. The broader picture, which I outlined in my Answer, is that we have been hugely generous to children who need our protection.