Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate her Department has made of the number of children whose parents have no recourse to public funds that live in (a) Lewisham Deptford constituency, (b) the London Borough of Lewisham, (c) London and (d) England.

The Home Office does not hold the data requested and information on the UK’s resident population is a matter for the independent Office for National Statistics. The no recourse to public funds (NRPF) condition is applied to the leave of most migrants in the UK as a legitimate means of maintaining and protecting taxpayers funds.

In those cases where leave has been, or is being, granted for family or private life reasons the NRPF condition can be lifted on application to the Home Office, including for reasons involving the welfare needs of children. In addition, immigration legislation specifically provides for assessments of child welfare needs to take place and support to be provided by a local authority under section 17 of the Children Act 1989.