Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she (a) is taking and (b) plans to take to help reduce the risk of human trafficking of unaccompanied (i) children and (ii) other young asylum seekers who are staying in hotels run by her Department.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)

All Home Office staff, and contracted parties have a duty, under section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009, to ensure that immigration, asylum, and nationality functions are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in the UK. The HO does not have a statutory responsibility for safeguarding - statutory agencies retain responsibility for all decisions on intervention activity.

On arrival in the UK, all asylum seekers, including unaccompanied children, have an interview which includes a series of questions specifically designed to ascertain potential indicators of trafficking. If indicators are noted, a referral is made to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). In the case of children, a safety plan is put in place by social services, whilst adults identified as potential victims of modern slavery are entitled to care with support provided by the Salvation Army.

The Home Office no longer accommodates Unaccompanied Asylum-seeking Children in hotels as of 31^st January 2024. Local authorities have a statutory duty under S20 of the Children Act 1989 to look after children in need in their area. This includes unaccompanied asylum seeking (UAS) children who either arrive in a local authority area or are transferred there under the mandated National Transfer Scheme (NTS). When a child is being looked after by a local authority, that local authority is under a duty to safeguard and promote the child’s welfare under the Children Act 1989.

The Home Office and its accommodation providers have robust processes in place to ensure that where an adult asylum seeker is at risk or vulnerable, they are referred to the appropriate statutory agencies such as the police, NHS and social services, to promote appropriate safeguarding interventions.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied children are recorded as missing from asylum hotels as of 16 May 2024.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson

There are no unaccompanied asylum-seeking children housed in hotels.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of children have refused their (a) first and (b) second move on the National Transfer Scheme; and what guidance his Department issues on refusals by children to move through the National Transfer Scheme.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson

The decision for any UAS child to be referred to the NTS for transfer lies with the local authority as the child’s corporate parent. The NTS Protocol sets out the criteria for referring a child to the NTS, and the associated timeframes, which can be found here: Unaccompanied asylum seeking children: national transfer scheme - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The NTS Protocol also outlines the escalation procedure on how to proceed when any issues arise between the receiving local authority around a transfer.

The most recent published data can be found at: RASI (Resettlement, Asylum Support and Integration) data: Q3 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of children who have been allocated a transfer to a local authority through the National Transfer Scheme have been refused by that local authority.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson

The decision for any UAS child to be referred to the NTS for transfer lies with the local authority as the child’s corporate parent. The NTS Protocol sets out the criteria for referring a child to the NTS, and the associated timeframes, which can be found here: Unaccompanied asylum seeking children: national transfer scheme - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The NTS Protocol also outlines the escalation procedure on how to proceed when any issues arise between the receiving local authority around a transfer.

The most recent published data can be found at: RASI (Resettlement, Asylum Support and Integration) data: Q3 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has issued guidance on the time period within which young people should be (a) referred to the National Transfer Scheme and (b) moved to the receiving local authority.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson

The decision for any UAS child to be referred to the NTS for transfer lies with the local authority as the child’s corporate parent. The NTS Protocol sets out the criteria for referring a child to the NTS, and the associated timeframes, which can be found here: Unaccompanied asylum seeking children: national transfer scheme - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The NTS Protocol also outlines the escalation procedure on how to proceed when any issues arise between the receiving local authority around a transfer.

The most recent published data can be found at: RASI (Resettlement, Asylum Support and Integration) data: Q3 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many young people have been referred by Kent County Council to the National Transfer Scheme in each of the last three months.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson

The most recently available information is regularly published on the government website.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many young people are awaiting allocation to a transfer to an authority under the National Transfer Scheme.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson

The most recently available information is regularly published on the government website.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many young people have been referred onto the National Transfer Scheme in each of the last three months.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson

The most recently available information is regularly published on the government website.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many young people have been (a) allocated to a local authority and (b) have yet to be relocated under the National Transfer Scheme.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson

The most recently available information is regularly published on the government website.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied asylum-seeking children arrived in Kent in each of the last three months.

Answered by Michael Tomlinson

The most recently available information is regularly published on the government website.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing time limits on asylum cases for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.

Answered by Tom Pursglove

The Home Office takes our duty of care towards children and young people extremely seriously and we prioritise applications from children and young people.

The Home Office does not currently have a target time for processing applications for asylum, but is committed to ensuring claims are considered without unnecessary delay. We have already made progress in prioritising claims with acute vulnerability and those in receipt of the greatest level of support, including Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children.

Introducing a service standard for asylum claims is a complex consideration which needs to be balanced between the requirements of operational efficiency, the needs of service users and the integrity of asylum control measures, including the implementation of the Illegal Migration Act. A project to review these considerations, along with scope and potential implementation timescales, will be undertaken. Once the project is completed, a final decision will be taken on any potential asylum claim service standards.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether any unaccompanied asylum seeking children who arrived in the UK after 7 March 2023 have been informed that their claim will not be processed until Ministerial guidance is provided on the applicability of the provisions of the Illegal Migration Act 2023.

Answered by Tom Pursglove

In 2023, we met the Prime Minister's pledge to clear the legacy backlog of asylum cases made before 28 June 2022. The Home Office is now prioritising claims lodged on or after 28 June 2022.

These are being considered under provisions in the Nationality and Borders Act 2022. It is only right that we consider the oldest claims first.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Sharpe of Epsom on 15 March (HL2855), how long each of the 118 unaccompanied children seeking asylum have been missing; and what are the individual ages of the 18 children now under the age of 18 who are still missing.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

This data has not previously been published and quality assured to that standard. We are unable to provide it in response to this question.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many unaccompanied children seeking asylum who were housed in Home Office hotels are still missing; and what is the breakdown of (1) ages, and (2) length of time missing, for those children.

Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

We take any child going missing extremely seriously. When any child goes missing, a multi-agency missing persons protocol is mobilised. Many of those who have gone missing are subsequently traced and located.

As of 5 March, 118 children are still missing. The majority were aged 16 and 17 when they went missing. Only about 18 are still under the age of 18. It is important to note that this data is from a live operational database and has not been quality assured to the same standard as published data.

The most recent published data can be found at asylum and resettlement datasets on GOV.UK: (www.gov.uk).

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much and what proportion of the cost of caring for an unaccompanied minor asylum seeker with special needs who has been placed in the care of a local authority is paid for by his Department.

Answered by Tom Pursglove

In addition to money for children's social care that local authorities receive through the Local Government Finance Settlement and finance arrangements which apply to the Devolved Administrations, the Home Office provides additional funding contributions to the costs incurred by local government in looking after unaccompanied asylum seeking (UAS) children and former UAS childcare leavers.

Local authorities supporting the greatest number of UAS children relative to their child population receive the higher rate of £143 per child per night for each UAS child.  This higher rate applies to local authorities supporting UAS children totalling 0.07% or greater of their general child population.  All other local authorities receive £114 per person per night for each UAS child in their care.   In addition, any local authority who accept the responsibility for a UAS child from a higher rate receiving local authority will receive the higher rate of £143 per child per night. This funding is not ring-fenced, and local authorities are free to use this funding as they see fit to support children in their care.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment his Department has made of the needs of an unaccompanied minor placed in the care of a local authority; and what assessment his Department has made of the ability of local authorities to meet those needs.

Answered by Tom Pursglove

Local authorities have a statutory duty under S20 of the Children Act 1989 to look after children in need in their area. This includes unaccompanied asylum seeking (UAS) children who either arrive in a local authority area or are transferred there under the mandated National Transfer Scheme. The National Transfer Scheme provides a mechanism for the statutory responsibility for an UAS child to be transferred from an entry local authority to another local authority in the UK for ongoing care and support.

The decision for any UAS child to be referred to the NTS for transfer lies with the local authorities as the child’s corporate parent. The NTS Protocol sets out the criteria for referring a child to the NTS which can be found here: Unaccompanied asylum seeking children: national transfer scheme - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

When a child is being looked after by a local authority, that local authority is under a duty to safeguard and promote the child’s welfare under the Children Act 1989.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the report entitled A re-inspection of the use of hotels for housing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, published by his Department in February 2024, what steps he is taking to ensure the (a) safety and (b) welfare of unaccompanied child asylum seekers in the UK.

Answered by Tom Pursglove

Since the two ICIBI inspections in 2022 and 2023, the Home Office has taken positive steps with our partners which has resulted in the closure of all 7 hotels for UAS children. The Home Office has provided details of its formal response to the recommendations and had already progressed activity linked to those recommendations prior to the hotels closing.

On both occasions of inspection, the ICIBI found that the children accommodated at the interim hotels reported they felt ‘happy and safe’ and spoke well of the staff caring for them.

Found: Asylum : Children 16 Oct 2023 | HL10450 Asked by: The Lord Bishop of Durham To ask His Majesty's