Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to enable additional unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in France who have family members in this country to be admitted to the UK.

Under the Dublin Regulation, we will accept requests to transfer an unaccompanied child’s asylum claim from another state which participates in the Dublin Regulation, where the child has eligible family in the UK, and where transfer is in their best interests.

As part of the UK-France Summit (or Sandhurst Treaty) of 18 January, we announced a number of specific measures to strengthen the operation of the Dublin Regulation. We have allocated a £3.6 million development fund, as part of the UK’s overall £45.5 million funding commitment, which is intended to support projects which support eligible claims through the Dublin process and ensure that those with no prospect of transferring to the UK are informed of their options.

The Sandhurst Treaty also commits the UK and France to clear timescales for effecting transfers between the two countries under the Dublin Regulation. Furthermore, the UK will deploy a Liaison Officer to France by 1 April 2018 to support transfers between the UK and France under the Dublin Regulation and section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016.