Oral Answers to Questions

Jake Richards Excerpts

Monday 2nd June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Yvette Cooper]

The question comes from a former policing Minister under whose Government charge rates for rape and domestic abuse plummeted, while charge rates for crime dropped substantially. This Government support much stronger action on violence against women and girls because we recognise the serious damage that those crimes do. Shamefully, the previous Government left us with a shocking legacy on crime, on immigration and across the board, but this Government are turning that around.

[Jake Richards (Rother Valley) (Lab)]

T4. At the Home Affairs Committee, we have heard worrying evidence about unaccompanied children arriving in this country and being placed in wholly unsuitable accommodation, including staying in rooms with adult males, which presents safeguarding risks. Clearly, there are issues about the age assessment process at the border and the responsibility of the contractors who organise the accommodation. Will the Minister tell the House what steps the Government are taking to ensure children in this country are safe?

[Dame Angela Eagle]

When people arrive and claim to be children, there are tests at the border to check whether we think they are children. If they are accepted as children, they are put into local authority care, so they should not be in asylum accommodation at all. If they are seen to be adults and end up in asylum accommodation, they can always make an appeal to the local authority that they are in and undergo what is known as a Merton age assessment test, which will decide on their age once and for all.