Children Seeking Asylum

Baroness Chakrabarti Excerpts

Tuesday 5th December 2023 Lords Chamber

[Lord Gascoigne (Con)]

I thank the noble and learned Baroness for the question. As I have already said, there are lessons to be learned from this. I am sure there are circumstances that noble Lords may be able to give as examples, but the department and the whole of government take very seriously the care, welfare and well-being of these children.

[Baroness Chakrabarti (Lab)]

My Lords, I too welcome the Minister to his new role and congratulate my noble friend Lord Dubs on his birthday. What do the Government say to not one but two High Court decisions now holding them in dereliction of their duty to these most vulnerable of children? Exactly how many went missing from hotel accommodation and how many have been found? In his new role, what efforts will the Minister take to find these missing children?

[Lord Gascoigne (Con)]

I thank the noble Baroness for her question. I hope I do not damage her street cred by saying that I am an admirer of hers and that she has always been very courteous to me outside the Chamber—I hope that that continues in the Chamber.

Forgive me, my Lords, but it is worth making the point that this has all been in response to a rise in the number of illegal boat crossings since 2021, to ensure that the well-being of children and others is put first. The situation in the hotels is in response to that rise in numbers. The court case—the judicial review—is something that we are looking at, and we are considering the judgment that has just been handed down. It is worth saying that obviously we take any missing child extremely seriously; there are safeguarding procedures in place to ensure that, in those circumstances, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are located. Some have gone missing and have subsequently been located. I appreciate this is a long answer but one statistic it is worth giving is that, as of 1 December, there was a total of 472 episodes of missing children, and the total subsequently located was 340; the total number of individuals still missing is 132. This data is sourced from Home Office operational databases and does not form part of our regular statistical outputs, hence why I think there may have been some issues. I hope that by providing it now it is useful.