Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to publish weekly data on the number of unaccompanied asylum seeking children who are missing from hotel accommodation and unaccounted for.

The data requested cannot be provided as it comes from live operational databases that have not been quality assured.

Published data can be found online at: www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets

Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) hotels are temporary accommodation that provide safeguarding for a child until they are ready to be transferred through the National Transfer Scheme (NTS) from an entry local authority to another local authority in the UK for ongoing care and support.

There are no UASC hotels in Scotland.

We take the safety of those in our care seriously. We have robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all young people in emergency interim hotels are safe and supported 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. All contingency sites have security staff on site 24/7 and providers liaise closely with local police to ensure the welfare and safety of vulnerable residents.