Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2017 to Question 63085, what recent steps she has taken to offer asylum to unaccompanied refugee children who are currently in Greece and Serbia.

Responsibility for processing asylum claims in Serbia and Greece, including those made by unaccompanied children, lies with the Serbian and Greek authorities. There are no provisions in our Immigration Rules for someone to travel to the UK to claim asylum.

However, we are working with the Greek authorities, UNHCR and non-governmental organisations to identify children from Greece who may qualify for transfer to the UK under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 or the Dublin III Regulation. We have also seconded an expert to Greece to support these efforts.

In addition, we have established a £10 million Refugee Children Fund for Europe to support the needs of vulnerable refugee and migrant children arriving in Europe. The fund supports three specialist and mandated organisations – the UNHCR, Save the Children and the International Rescue Committee in their work with host authorities to care for and assist unaccompanied or separated children in Europe and the Balkans.