Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department has produced to assist police forces in apprehending foreign-born minors and their transfer into the care of local authorities; and if she will make a statement.

Guidance to the police on the identification and support of unaccompanied minors from overseas currently exists in two complementary guidance documents, both produced by the then Association of Chief Police Officers and currently supported by the National Policing Lead and the College of Policing: Guidance on the Management, Recording and Investigation of Missing Persons (2010) and Interim Guidance on the Management, Recording and Investigation of Missing Persons (2013). Advice to practitioners, including the police, is also contained within two pieces of statutory guidance from the Department for Education: Care of unaccompanied and trafficked children (2014) and Safeguarding Children who may have been trafficked (2011).

The College of Policing ran a public consultation in 2015 on revisions to the Authorised Professional Practice (APP) guidance to the police on the handling of missing persons investigations. This is currently being developed following consultation. The APP is expected to contain reference to unaccompanied foreign children, highlighting their vulnerabilities and the potential danger of exploitation, and re-affirm the need to investigate these cases effectively, considering the risks to the child, particularly from adults who may purport to be relatives.