Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of France about the timeframe in which the UK will accept unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who qualify under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 from France and other parts of Europe.

The UK is committed to close cooperation and collaboration with EU partners, including France, to ensure the efficient and timely operation of the Dublin Regulation and national relocation schemes, namely to relocate and support unaccompanied children under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016.

As part of the Sandhurst Treaty, signed between the UK and France on 18 January 2018, both parties agreed to further enhance cooperation in a number of areas, including migration. In respect of transferring the asylum claim of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children under Article 8(1) and Article 8(2) of the Dublin Regulation, we have committed to provide a decision on to France within 10 working days of the conclusion of engagement with the relevant UK local authority; and, if applicable, France will aim to transfer the child to the UK within 15 working days.

In addition, we announced the allocation of a £3.6M development fund, as part of the UK’s overall £45.5M funding commitment, which the UK intends to use to work with France to identify projects which support genuine claims through the Dublin process and ensure that those with no prospect of transferring to the UK are informed of their options.

The UK is fully committed to transferring the specified number of 480 unaccompanied children under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 as soon as possible. Over 220 children are already here and transfers are ongoing. After extensive discussion with France, Greece and Italy, we have agreed to amend the eligibility date on an exceptional basis to ensure we can transfer the circa. 260 remaining unaccompanied children and meet our obligation under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016. The Government had previously insisted on the previous eligibility date of 20 March 2016 to avoid establishing an open-ended relocation scheme from Europe, as this would increase the pull factor that puts children’s lives at risk.

In addition, we will deploy a UK Liaison Officer to France by 1 April 2018 to facilitate cooperation on unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.