Draft Transfer of Responsibility for Relevant Children (Extension to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) Regulations 2017

Stuart C McDonald Excerpts

Tuesday 23rd January 2018 General Committees

[Stuart C. McDonald (Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East) (SNP)]

It is good to see you in the Chair, Mr Hosie. I congratulate the Minister on her recent appointment and wish her all the best. She takes up the immigration portfolio at an interesting time. It is good to be able to start on a positive note. The Scottish National party fully supports the statutory instrument and it is good to see that there has been close partnership working with the Scottish Government on this. It is right that responsibility for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children is shared fairly around the constituent parts of the United Kingdom. A fair share of responsibility might be an argument we could turn to in a different context and the migration crisis more generally.

Will the Minister have a look at the Scottish Government’s guardianship service for unaccompanied minors north of the border? Peer reviews have said that it has been successful and made a real difference to unaccompanied children, who have to deal with rules and legal challenges and issues. If she will have a look at that and see whether there is scope to roll it out in the rest of the United Kingdom, that would be a good first step in her new role.