Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Alex Cunningham and Robert Goodwill

Monday 6th March 2017 Commons Chamber

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

7. What discussions she has had with local authorities on their capacity to support unaccompanied refugee and asylum-seeking children.

[The Minister for Immigration (Mr Robert Goodwill)]

The Government undertook a comprehensive consultation with local authorities in order to assess their capacity to accept unaccompanied children. This consultation included 10 regional events in each part of England, and events in Scotland and Wales, which were attended by representatives of more than 400 local authorities.

[Alex Cunningham]

When the Calais camp was cleared last year, 550 of the 750 children who came to the UK did so under an accelerated process based on the family reunion criteria of the Dublin regulation, which has since been discontinued. How will the Minister ensure that refugees in Greece, France, and Italy, including unaccompanied children with family members in the UK, can be reunited with their families?

[Mr Goodwill]

The Dublin process works well and is well established. Indeed, a member of the Home Office staff is embedded in Athens, helping the process to work. Although we had a fast-track system during the Calais clearances, it is important that, first, we identify that the children are who they say they are and, secondly, that they can be properly cared for by the family they are placed with.