Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Children’s Commissioner's report entitled Unaccompanied children in need of care published November 2023, for what reasons his Department did not return the information requested by the Commissioner on whether (a) safeguarding referrals were made and (b) healthcare support was received; and if he will provide this information for the 5,298 children housed in hotels between July 2021 and May 2023.

For those young people determined to be under 18 who have entered the UK without a parent or guardian, we will endeavour to place them with a local authority as soon as possible after their entry into the country. For young people placed in emergency interim hotels, safeguarding procedures are in place to ensure they are safe and supported whilst 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.

The Home Office have confirmed the completion of the required Data Protection Impact Assessment for the Children’s Commissioner’s report. However there has been some delay in agreeing the final version. Further more, there are elements of the data which have been requested that are not in electronically retrievable form. The Home Office will not be able to provide the data as it would require a high level of manual resource to obtain.