Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that children who have family in the UK who were affected by the Dunkirk refugee camp fire are reunited with their families as soon as possible.

We are in ongoing dialogue with the French authorities regarding the incident at the Dunkirk camp. The primary responsibility for unaccompanied children in Europe lies with the State in which they are present. We are committed to making sure that the Dublin III Regulation works effectively to ensure that unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are reunited as soon as possible with any close family members in the UK, as set out in the Regulation.

Under the Dublin III Regulation, an unaccompanied child must first claim asylum in the EU Member State in which they are present, and that Member State must then raise a take charge request with the UK Government. It is therefore vital that children remaining in France who have close family in the UK engage with the French authorities to make an asylum claim and enable the process to start.