Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reasons the police are sharing biometric data of migrant children with Immigration Enforcement; and whether such sharing is for purposes other than safeguarding.

The Police, as first responders and on behalf of the Home Office, use powers afforded them by Sections 20 and 141 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, to capture photographs and fingerprints of migrant children which are then forwarded for storage on Home Office IT systems.

These systems then act as a central database to which other agencies may seek access. This process further protects migrant children, deters traffickers and assists with future identification should the migrant children go missing or be found in other distressing circumstances. These biometric details are not retained on police systems.