Refugees: France

(asked on 28th April 2020) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how much they have committed in funding to reception centres for displaced people at the border in northern France, as pledged in Articles 2(a) and 4 of the 2018 Sandhurst Agreement; whether such funding has increased to assist efforts by the authorities in France to shelter greater numbers of people and allow them to confine indoors and other efforts in relation to handling the COVID-19 pandemic.


Answered by
Baroness Williams of Trafford Portrait
Baroness Williams of Trafford
Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
This question was answered on 14th May 2020

From the €50 million allocation made following the Sandhurst Treaty, £1.1 million was committed in 2018 to support the development of reception centres for migrants in France. These centres provide support to vulnerable migrants, such as those who have been victims of violence and human trafficking.

As indicated in previous responses, £3.6 million of the Sandhurst package was specifically allocated to supporting the development of the Dublin and Dubs process to support transfers of eligible children to the UK, including training for those working with unaccompanied children, family tracing and targeted information campaigns.

We continue to work closely with France on border and migration issues, including in response to Covid-19, but we have not been asked for funding to support reception centres during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown in France, over 600 migrants have been moved from camps to accommodation centres to aid with social distancing measures. Within these centres, individuals are provided with medical and administrative support, and given the opportunity to lodge an asylum claim.

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