Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has had discussions with the (a) Secretary of State for Education and (b) officials from local authorities in London on safeguarding provisions for people under 18 years old who live in asylum accommodation in hotels.

We take the safety and welfare of those in our care, including unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, extremely seriously. Home Office officials and our accommodation providers engage on a weekly basis with partners across London Boroughs as part of long-established engagement forums.

Alongside such multi-agency forums, officials also hold specific safeguarding discussions with statutory leads in boroughs covering individual cases of concern or more thematically. Officials in Home Office regularly have conversations regarding updates to published policy and guidance such as the Allocation of Asylum Accommodation policy and the AASC Accommodation Safeguarding Framework.

The recent Independent Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI)'s report on UASC accommodated in hotels notes that Home Office staff were clear on their commitment to safeguard the young people housed in hotels and had put in place processes and guidance in order to achieve this. The report found that the people working with young people were all “engaged, empathetic, supportive and enthused” about their work.

The ICIBI also said that the Home Office’s approach to addressing children’s mental health support reflected a “best practice approach”. The ICIBI found the young people in accommodation unanimously reported feeling safe, happy and were treated with respect.

No individuals, apart from the unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, are residing at any of the hotels. All individuals working directly with the young people accommodated at the hotels have Enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service checks, and all those working operating on the hotel sites have DBS clearance.