Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government when a child is under the care and accommodation of the Home Office, due to the Home Secretary’s duty to detain and remove under clause 2 of the Illegal Migration Bill, what international or domestic legislation the Home Office is required to meet.

The duty to make arrangements for the removal of an illegal migrant who meets the conditions in clause 2 of the Illegal Migration Bill does not apply to unaccompanied children, although clause 3(2) of the Bill confers a power to remove them in the circumstances set out in clause 3(3).

Clause 15 of the Bill further provides the Home Office with the power to provide or arrange accommodation and support for unaccompanied children. This power relates to non-detained accommodation.

The intention is to only provide accommodation and support to these children on a temporary basis before being transferred to a local authority.

We expect local authorities to continue to meet their statutory obligations to children from the date of arrival and for the Home Office to only step in sparingly and temporarily. The best place for these young people is and will remain within a local authority care placement.

The Home Office is not currently in the position of corporate parent to any unaccompanied child. There is nothing in the Bill which changes this position and it will continue to be for the local authority where an unaccompanied child is located to consider its duties under the Children Act 1989.

Detention powers in the Bill, including in relation to children, are set out in clause 10.