Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to assist unaccompanied refugee children in (a) France and (b) other European countries.

In 2016, we transferred over 900 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to the UK from Europe, including more than 750 from France as part of the UK’s support for the Calais camp clearance. Approximately 200 of these children met the criteria for section 67 of the Immigration Act.

More eligible children will be transferred from Europe, in line with the terms of the Immigration Act, in the coming months and we will continue to meet our obligations under the Dublin Regulation.

In addition to our long standing secondee in Italy, we have seconded an expert to Greece who has been working closely with UNHCR, IOM and the Greek authorities to identify potentially eligible children under section 67 of the Immigration Act and support transfers under the Dublin Regulation.

The Government has also established a £10 million Refugee Children Fund to support the needs of vulnerable refugee and migrant children arriving in Europe.