Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to ensure that minors residing in Calais that have family in the UK are able to access family reunification procedures.

The primary responsibly for children in France lies with the French authorities. It is important that any children present in Calais claim asylum or otherwise engage with French authorities.

Under the EU Dublin Regulation the UK will accept all requests for transfer of an unaccompanied child’s asylum claims with qualifying family in the UK and where transfer is in the child’s best interests. In order to enter this process, a child must first claim asylum in the Member State in which they are present, and that State must request that the UK takes charge of their asylum claim.

As part of the Sandhurst Treaty, signed between the UK and France on 18 January 2018, we agreed a comprehensive package to support unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children. This includes a £3.6 million development fund to support eligible children through the Dublin process and ensures that those without any prospect for transferring to the UK are informed of their options. We have also agreed shorter timescales for acceptance and transfer under the Dublin process and a UK asylum liaison officer has been deployed to France to support this process.