Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps she has taken to ensure that more unaccompanied children are granted asylum in the UK.

The UK has a proud history of providing protection to those who need it, in accordance with our international obligations under the 1951 Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Over 8,000 children were granted asylum or another form of leave in the UK in the year ending September 2016.

Each claim for asylum is considered on its individual merits and asylum decision makers receive extensive training on considering asylum claims, including claims made from unaccompanied children. Protection is normally granted when a claimant establishes a well-founded fear of persecution under the Refugee Convention or their particular circumstances engage our obligations under Article 3 (ECHR).