Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support his Department provides to local councils to ensure that young refugees are protected by an adequate level of safeguarding.

Under the Children Act 1989, local authorities are required to provide services for children in their local areas for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting their welfare, this includes children who are refugees. 'Working Together to Safeguard Children' (2018) clarifies the core legal requirements for how agencies work together to keep children safe, including responding to their needs.

Some children arrive in the country as unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. Under section 20 of the Children Act 1989, local authorities are under a statutory obligation to provide accommodation for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. This means that they become looked-after children and receive the same safeguards and services as any other looked-after child.

The government recognises that unaccompanied asylum-seeking and refugee children can be some of the most vulnerable in our society. The government’s vision and additional commitment to care for these children is set out in the ‘Safeguarding Strategy for Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking and Refugee Children’. The government has also published statutory guidance on the ‘Care of Unaccompanied Migrant Children and Child Victims of Modern Slavery’ to help local authorities to care effectively for these children.