Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 21 December 2018 (HL12231), when they plan to publish the updated version of the Government's Missing Children and Adults Strategy.

Government is committed to protecting all people who go missing, but recognises that the needs of children, particularly vulnerable children such as trafficked children, are different to those of adults and we have an even greater responsibility to protect them.

Home Office is working with partners to address the issues faced by all children who go missing through its refreshed Missing Children and Adults Strategy which will be published in the coming months. The refreshed Strategy will include cross-Government commitments aimed to prevent victims of child trafficking from going missing by ensuring they are given appropriate information and support. This includes work to encourage police forces to adopt the Operation Innerste process which aims to build trust between a child and the UK authorities, reducing the likelihood of them running away or going missing after a referral to the National Referral Mechanism.