Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps her Department has taken to ensure the identification of victims of human trafficking among (a) migrant and (b) asylum seeking children.

The Government takes the issue of safeguarding all children, including unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and migrant children, extremely seriously and we remain committed to working with all partners to safeguard vulnerable children.

Last year the Home Office worked with the Department for Education in the development of the Safeguarding Strategy for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking and Refugee Children. The strategy, which was published in November 2017, sets out a range of actions the Government will undertake to safeguard and promote the welfare of unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children to ensure they have access to the care, services and support they require. A link to the strategy is below: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safeguarding-unaccompanied-asylum-seeking-and-refugee-children

The Home Office also contributed to the revised Care of Unaccompanied Migrant Children and Child Victims of Modern Slavery Statutory Guidance for Local Authorities. The guidance sets out the steps local authorities should take to plan for the provision of support for looked after children who are unaccompanied asylum seeking children, unaccompanied migrant children or child victims of modern slavery including trafficking. A link to the guidance is below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/care-of-unaccompanied-and-trafficked-children.