Asylum: Children

(asked on 26th October 2021) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to page 12 of her Department's New Plan for Immigration, published on 16 September 2021, what estimate she has made of the number of additional children undergoing the asylum process that would gain access to legal aid as a result of extending the eligibility criteria to those children.


Answered by
Kevin Foster Portrait
Kevin Foster
This question was answered on 29th October 2021

The Nationality and Borders Bill is part of our New Plan for Immigration, delivering the most comprehensive reform of the asylum system in decades

Asylum-seeking children are already supported through every stage of the asylum process, from their application to representation at interview and any appeal.

The legal aid scheme does not generally distinguish between services provided to children and adults, and as such, the following services will be available to both children and adults who meet the eligibility criteria for them.

The New Plan for Immigration provides for an expansion of legal aid provision in two circumstances.

The first is for up to 7 hours of legally-aided advice for recipients of a Priority Removal Notice (PRN), to help recipients understand what the PRN is and what action they need to take as a result of being served with one. This access to legal aid will be available to anyone served with a PRN, including children, although it is not envisaged children will be considered a priority for removal or deportation and therefore it is unlikely they will be served with a PRN.

The second is the provision of legally-aided advice on the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). This is designed to support individuals who may be victims of modern slavery by helping them to understand what the NRM is and the support available under it, and to seek a referral where appropriate. These individuals must already be receiving legally-aided advice on an asylum or non-asylum immigration matter, and these individuals could be adults or children.

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