Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March 2023 to Question 156231, what steps her Department is taking to locate the remaining missing asylum seekers under the age of 18 who were staying in hotels procured by her Department.

We have safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in hotels are as safe and supported as possible as we seek urgent placements with a local authority.

Young people are supported by team leaders and support workers who are on site 24 hours a day. Further care is provided in hotels by teams of social workers and nurses.

Once in a hotel where UASC are accommodated, there are various measures in place to ensure that the risk of a child going missing is minimised. Records are kept and monitored of children leaving and returning to the hotel. Support workers will accompany children off site on activities and social excursions, or where specific vulnerabilities are identified. The Home Office has no power to hold children in hotels or any temporary accommodation if they wish to leave.

If a young person goes missing from a care setting, including a UASC hotel, the MARS (Missing After Reasonable Steps) protocol is followed. A multi-agency, missing persons meeting is chaired by the local authority to establish the young person's whereabouts and to ensure that they are safe.

When used correctly, similar protocols within police forces have safely reduced the number of missing episodes from placements by 36%.