Calais: Refugee Camp

Lord Roberts of Llandudno Excerpts

Thursday 15th September 2016 Lords Chamber

[Lord Roberts of Llandudno (LD)]

My Lords, I was encouraged by the Minister’s answers last week that the pledge to accept 20,000 refugees by the end of this Parliament was on track, that the infrastructure was there and that more than 100 local authorities were ready to co-operate in making sure that these people were able to come. That is of course encouraging, but do we have to wait until 2020 to receive those people? If it is on track and local councils are prepared, could we not bring that forward, say to 2018? The sooner we get folk here, the fewer will lose their lives, as the sooner they will give up trying to arrive by illegal and dangerous means. Could the Minister carry the message back that we do not have to wait until 2020 to receive these folk? We could receive them at a steady pace, say over the next two years.

My second point is that as well as the 20,000, we had the amendment from my noble friend Lord Dubs—I can call him that—that we had hoped would allow us to bring in 3,000 people. Unfortunately, that amendment was not carried, but an unspecified number of young people can be accepted here. Like everybody else in the Chamber this afternoon, I am so disappointed at the slow progress. With winter coming, the kids are in the cold and facing a winter with many dangers in the camps. They are not like our children, who have parents to look after them or grandparents to give them comfort. These are lonely children who have been traumatised. The longer we allow this to continue, the more we are sowing the seeds for more terrorism in the future. If we do not let people have a wee bit of hope, we could very well have a massive catastrophe on our hands.

There are about 10,000 refugees altogether in the camps. Where are the children going to go if the camps are demolished? We must step in. It is our moral duty to do so. I am sure other noble Lords read the dreadful report this week about the state of the children who are in Greece. They are the same age as our youngsters, and I would like to see the children of the UK able to lend a hand to bring the refugee children from the crisis areas into the UK. Let the children share. It will benefit the children from the other side of the channel of course, but it will also benefit our children to be part of an operation that will show what a difference offering true help will make. Children on both sides of the channel would benefit.

There are 387 children who are registered in one way or the other and eligible under my noble friend Lord Dubs’s amendment or under Dublin III. That list was given to the Home Office some time ago, but no reply has been received. We are still waiting. I feel sometimes that the Minister is really on our side and not on the Government’s side—I hope that is the case —whereas most of the Ministers who sit on the Front Bench are reading a brief and are not really convinced of the arguments that they are presenting. I suggest to her that we could do this, and make sure that the children in Calais, Dunkirk or wherever are registered and have gone through the procedures. It is no use keeping them over the winter—we want to register them now. The families who are going to receive them should also be registered and go through the CRB checks, so that they are ready to accept the children as soon as possible. Can the Minister tell me, once we have that, what the obstacle would then be to, let us say, a convoy of school buses going through the tunnel to Calais to bring these children over here? We could do that and show the compassion that is part, I hope, of our core nature.

I have a daughter who is involved in the night shelters at Christmas. They tell me that if we wanted bedding and so on, they have the beds. All this could be put together very quickly. Let us do it positively and give the children of Calais the chance of sharing the joy and the comfort of the children of the United Kingdom. I hope very much that we proceed in that direction.

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

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have taken part in this debate, particularly the noble Lord, Lord Dubs. Since I have been a Minister I have answered a question almost every day on the issue of not just migrants in Calais but children in Calais. Not only does that show the importance this House places on the issue; we also join the country at large in being concerned about children who are, as many noble Lords have described, traumatised and in great difficulty and under the jurisdiction of other countries.

The Government are clear about our moral responsibility to assist those who are suffering as a result of the conflicts in the world, and we recognise that those fleeing persecution have a legal entitlement to protection. Refugee children are particularly vulnerable, as we know, and our priority is to protect them as best we can.

I shall set out the context of the wider situation, particularly with reference to the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Roberts. For those children in the Middle East and north Africa, we have set up a new vulnerable children’s resettlement scheme, which will bring children most in need to the UK from the regions. Under this scheme we will resettle several hundred individuals in the first year, and up to 3,000 by the end of this Parliament. That is in addition to our commitment to resettle 20,000 vulnerable Syrians over the same period. To give the noble Lord some comfort, in the year ending June 2016, 2,682 people were resettled under the Syrian resettlement scheme, half of whom are children.

The previous Prime Minister announced earlier in the year that the much-needed Syrian relief effort would be doubled to over £2.3 billion, so that is a doubling of our efforts in terms of the money we are putting in. For those in Europe, we have made significant progress in improving and speeding up the existing processes. That is reflected in the number of children who have been accepted for transfer to the UK this year under the Dublin regulation, which currently stands at over 120.

In France, we continue to build on this progress and are working with the French Government to ensure that children in Calais with family links in the UK are identified, receive sufficient support and can access the Dublin family reunification process without delay. More widely in Europe, we are in active discussions with the UNHCR, other partner organisations and the Italian and Greek Governments to strengthen and speed up mechanisms to identify and assess unaccompanied refugee children and transfer them to the UK where that is in their best interests. The noble Lord might think it is in all the children’s best interests to be in the UK but that is not necessarily the case; these things are more complicated. While I share his view that the welfare of children in Calais is paramount, I believe we should be acting in the best interests of the child, and for that reason we are focusing on prioritising family reunion cases.

Both the UK and French Governments are clear that those in France who require international protection should claim asylum in France. For unaccompanied children the UK will consider requests to take responsibility for an asylum application made in France when lodged by a minor with close family connections in the UK, and both Governments are committed to ensuring that such cases are prioritised. To start this process, the child must engage with the French authorities.

We have made significant progress in speeding up the transfer of unaccompanied children who already have family members in the UK, under the Dublin regulation. Since the beginning of this year, over 70 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children have been accepted for transfer to the UK from France under the family provisions of the Dublin regulation. More than 30 of the Dubs children have met the Dublin criteria and most have been transferred. I said yesterday and I say again today that whether a child is a Dublin child or a Dubs child, they are a child, and more than 30 of them are now here.

Many noble Lords have talked about the co-operation between the UK and France. It is intense. We are working so hard to improve the operation of the Dublin process. We have established a permanent official-level contact group and will be seconding another expert to the French Interior Ministry in the next few weeks to build on the very real progress that has been made. We have also established a dedicated team in the Home Office Dublin unit to lead on family reunion cases for unaccompanied children.

On camp clearances, we recognise that there are indeed children living in the migrant camp in Calais. Noble Lords have told a variety of heartbreaking stories of what they have seen and heard, but we must make it clear that the management and protection of children in Calais is predominately a matter for the French authorities. The French Government have been clear that they intend to clear the camps in Calais by the end of the year. The noble Lord, Lord Kennedy, asked for a more exact timing. I cannot give it, other than to say that they have talked about the end of the year.

Both Governments understand that the camp clearances will have an impact on the children who are still there. That is why the UK and France are working more closely than ever before to ensure that the children in Calais have access to decent accommodation and the appropriate support services in France. The picture so far is that 5,000 people have taken up alternative accommodation, and I must emphasise that no one is forced to remain in the camps, although I appreciate some of the stories that noble Lords have told about the difficulty of getting out of them.

To assist with the clearances, I understand that the French Government intend to create additional places in temporary accommodation centres and asylum accommodation places across France by the end of the year. I understand that figure to be 12,000 in total. The British Government understand that the total number in the camp is about 7,600; NGOs estimate it to be more like 9,000; but if the number of places to be provided is 12,000, that is indeed welcome news. Ultimately, anyone impacted by the camp clearances in Calais has the option of engaging with the French authorities. We have assurances from the French Government that no child or adult has to stay in those difficult conditions and that care and support by the French state is readily accessible.

My noble friend Lady Jenkin, the noble Lord, Lord Dubs, and the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, talked about identifying and informing vulnerable people who may be traumatised and not know what to do. The UK and France have put in place a programme—there was a question about it yesterday—the FTDA, to identify and help direct vulnerable people in the camps to the support that they require. Since November 2015, the FTDA has led a project on human trafficking in Calais called Aide aux Victimes de la Traite, which means support to victims of human trafficking. The aim is to enforce identification and orientation of victims in the camp in Calais. The team comprises four field officers, who are multidisciplinary. Crucially, they have legal and social work skills, can speak English and Arabic, and conduct daily patrols of the camps to identify victims of trafficking. The people identified by FTDA as vulnerable or potential trafficking victims are mainly young women or unaccompanied minors at risk of sexual exploitation or coercion to commit offences, and victims of violence from other migrants, mainly smugglers. The British Government are contributing £530,000 to this project, and the French Government have tasked FTDA with identifying 150 unaccompanied minors with family links to the UK. The French Government have doubled the FTDA’s resources, as I said yesterday, and extended the project at least until December.

On oversight of the project, which is important and which I mentioned yesterday but will say again for the benefit of noble Lords, the project steering group is made up of representatives from the Home Office, alongside officials from the French Interior Ministry, the Jules Ferry centre, the Calais prefecture and French law enforcement.

The noble Baroness, Lady Royall, asked about funding. I can confirm that it will be £41,460 per annum per child. The money to boost regional structures will be £60,000 per annum.

I am aware that I am about to run out of time. We all understand that the camp clearances in Calais will have an impact on everybody in them, particularly the children. That is why we are working closely with the French Government to deliver our shared aims. Any child in the camp has options available to them, and we are confident that the French Government are able to provide the appropriate services and accommodation for those impacted by the clearances. We will obviously continue to work closely with our French counterparts to ensure that children in the camp have access to the appropriate services, and that those with UK links can access the Dublin family reunification process without delay.

I thank all noble Lords for taking part in the debate.

[Lord Roberts of Llandudno]

My Lords, before the Minister sits down, can she assure us that the 387 children whose names are already with the Home Office will receive immediate consideration, before the winter, which we hope will not be harsh, sets in?

[Baroness Williams of Trafford]

I am pleased that the noble Lord asked that, because the other day, there were 110 names, according to the right honourable Member in the other place, Yvette Cooper. Yesterday, I understood from the noble Baroness, Lady Jowell, that it was 300, and the noble Lord has given me a different figure. All those names are being considered. There may be crossover, we do not know, but they are all being considered and processed in the usual way.