Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps have been taken to ensure that safe and legal pathways remain open from 2021 for unaccompanied children within Europe (a) with and (b) without families in the UK.

The Government remains fully committed to ensuring eligible individuals seeking asylum in Europe, including unaccompanied children, who have family members in the UK can continue to be transferred under the Dublin III Regulation throughout the transition period. Furthermore, the Immigration, Nationality and Asylum (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 include ‘saving’ provisions under which transfer requests under the Dublin family reunion provisions which entered the system before the end of the transition period will continue to be processed after that date.

The UK has presented a genuine and sincere offer to the EU on a future reciprocal arrangement for the family reunion of unaccompanied children seeking asylum in either the EU or the UK, with specified family members in the UK or the EU, where it is in the child’s best interests. On 19 May we published draft legal text as a constructive contribution to negotiations.

Furthermore, we continue to provide safe and legal routes to bring families together through our refugee family reunion Rules, and Part 8 and Appendix FM of the Immigration Rules. These routes have not been affected by the UK’s exit from the EU.