Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the level of gender-based and sexual violence experienced by women and girls held in transit on journeys to seek asylum in the UK.

We recognise that those who travel illegally to seek asylum in the UK are vulnerable to exploitation and at risk of harm in transit, including from gender-based and sexual violence.

That is why those who need protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach – as that is the fastest route to safety. We provide safe and legal routes to the UK through our resettlement schemes and family reunion provisions.