Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions he has had with his French counterpart on educational support for unaccompanied child refugees in northern France.

The United Kingdom and France are committed to a whole of route approach on migration, as set out in the Sandhurst Treaty, which was signed in January 2018. It is not acceptable that people continue to lose their lives making the dangerous journey to Europe through illegal channels. The United Kingdom and France will coordinate our collective influence and expertise to address the shared challenges posed by illegal migration, “modern slavery”, and human trafficking, and to support regular and well managed legal migration flows.

A commitment has been made in the Sandhurst Treaty to help protect and support unaccompanied children in northern France from trafficking and exploitation. The UK-FR Migration Committee, who meet quarterly, oversee the programme of work that underpins the Sandhurst Treaty. The allocation of a £3.6M development fund, as part of the UK’s overall £45.5M funding commitment, aims to identify projects which support eligible claims through the Dublin process and ensure that those with no prospect of transferring to the UK are informed of their options.