Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that vulnerable children are treated with decency and compassion.

The Home Office takes our duty of care towards children extremely seriously and we prioritise the safety of children and any applications from asylum seeking children.

We have robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all children in hotels are safe and supported as we seek urgent placements with a local authority. Children 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

Decision makers who specifically deal with children’s claims complete additional training on Processing Children’s Asylum Claims and have additional periods of mentoring. Additionally, decision makers attend a Safeguarding Awareness training which raises awareness of responsibilities of staff who deal with non-detained individuals and aims to ensure a consistent approach to safeguarding procedures for children.