Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what funding his Department has allocated to local authorities to support child refugees.

On 10 November last year my Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government , along with the Home Secretary and the Minister for Vulnerable Children, wrote to local authorities to alert them to potential help regarding unaccompanied asylum seeking children from the Controlling Migration Fund. The Fund fulfils a manifesto commitment to help areas facing challenges linked to recent migration and is able to help with issues such as training for social workers who may be helping these young people.

We wrote again on 28 March this year outlining a first stage payment of £2 million to authorities supporting those arriving. We will announce later this year further payments to areas which have bid for specific projects looking to boost sustainable capacity in local authorities caring for unaccompanied asylum seeking children.