Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how they assess whether local authorities are identifying children in their care who need to address immigration issues; and how they intend to ensure that all European national children in care apply to the EU Settlement Scheme before the deadline for applications.

The Home Office has been engaging with relevant stakeholders such as the Department for Education, Local Government Association and Association of Directors of Children’s Services to assess the needs of this group and ensure they are supported.

The Home Office has issued a series of letters to all Directors of Children Services making recommendations about the activity local authorities and their staff need to undertake to make applications to EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) for looked after children and care leavers.

These recommendations have been followed up with a round of teleconferences aimed directly at local authorities and Health and Social Care Trusts to find further information about EUSS and to share information with colleagues across the UK. The aim of the teleconferences is to monitor the level of take up to the scheme and to surface early any problems a local authority might be experiencing. These calls will continue through the lifetime of the EUSS.

The Home Office will shortly be surveying local authorities to benchmark current uptake of the scheme, and to baseline current cohorts of EEA citizen looked after children and care leavers. This survey will take place at set intervals throughout the lifecycle of the EUSS.

A New Burdens Assessment has also been produced in collaboration with key stakeholders representing local authorities and children’s social services to ensure they are funded to identify and support eligible EEA children and family members in care.