Asked by: Lord Dubs (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many unaccompanied child refugees have arrived in the UK under (1) section 67 of the UK Immigration Act 2016, and (2) the Dublin III Regulations.
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 children to the UK from Europe, including more than 750 from France. Over 200 of these children met the criteria for section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016.
We are fully committed to delivering our commitment to transfer the specified number of 480 children under section 67 and are working very closely with Member States, as well as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and NGO partners to identify and transfer children to the UK in line with each individual Member State’s national laws. We have secondees in Greece and Italy working on transfers of unaccompanied children to the UK under both the Dublin III Regulation and section 67. More eligible children will be transferred from Europe in due course.
The Dublin III Regulation allows 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.
The Government has committed to publishing regular updates on the number of unaccompanied asylum seeking children transferred to the UK from Europe. This data will be published in the coming months.
Statistics on transfers under the Dublin Regulation are already available here:
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Asylum_quarterly_report
Asylum statistics are published quarterly in the Home Office Immigration Statistics release, which can be found here:
Asked by: Lord Dubs (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many child refugees have come to the UK under (1) the Dublin III Regulation, and (2) 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)
In 2016, we welcomed over 900 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to the UK, including more than 750 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. Approximately 200 of these children met the criteria for section 67 of the Immigration Act.
More eligible children will be transferred from Europe, in line with the terms of the Immigration Act, in the coming months and we will continue to meet our obligations under the Dublin Regulation. The process and criteria for the transfer of children from Europe under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Dubs (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will extend the eligibility criteria to enter the UK for child refugees in France to those child refugees currently in Greece and Italy.
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 welcomed over 900 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to the UK, including more than 750 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. Approximately 200 of these children met the criteria for section 67 of the Immigration Act.
More eligible children will be transferred from Europe, in line with the terms of the Immigration Act, in the coming months and we will continue to meet our obligations under the Dublin Regulation. The process and criteria for the transfer of children from Europe under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Dubs (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many unaccompanied child refugees have been transferred to the UK under the terms of the Immigration Act 2016 from (1) France, (2) Italy, and (3) Greece.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Our records currently indicate that since Royal Assent, 30 children who meet the criteria in the Immigration Act 2016 have been transferred to the UK. Details on the European country these children arrived from are not currently available. This is provisional management information that is subject to change. It has not been assured to the standard of Official Statistics.
Asked by: Lord Dubs (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many child refugees have been transferred to the UK because they had an existing family connection in the UK from (1) France, (2) Greece, and (3) Italy, in (a) 2015, and (b) 2016 to date.
Answered by Baroness Williams of Trafford - Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Our records currently indicate that in 2016 the Government has transferred just under 100 unaccompanied refugee children to the UK under the Dublin Regulation, the majority of which are from France. This is provisional management information that is subject to change. It has not been assured to the standard of Official Statistics.
In 2015, around 20 unaccompanied refugee children in Europe were accepted for transfer to the UK.