Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the health and social care sectors regarding the implications for those sectors of the proposed new net migration measures, since the announcement of those measures on 4 December 2023.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Immigration Salary list can be found on page 230 to 232 of the statement of changes laid in Parliament on 14 March. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65f18e57ff11701fff6159bb/E03091226_-_HC_590_-_Immigration_Rules_Changes__Web_Accessible_.pdf.
The Government consult regularly with a broad range of stakeholders, including those in social care, on a regular basis.
Asked by: Lord Oates (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government on how many occasions enforcement action has been taken against care providers who fail to provide sufficient work for health and care workers recruited from overseas under the Certificate of Sponsorship scheme.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office does not publish data that would cover this request.
Asked by: Lord Oates (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what guidance is currently issued to health and care workers recruited from overseas with regard to the right of entry of dependent children.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes guidance on the Health and Care visa to assist in making a visa application, including for dependents. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/health-care-worker-visa.
The guidance will be updated once the net migration changes announced in December come into force. Further details on the measures, and how carers and dependents will be affected, is available here: https://homeofficemedia.blog.gov.uk/2024/02/01/reducing-net-migration-factsheet-december-2023/.
Asked by: Lord Oates (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether support is provided to health and care workers recruited overseas in the visa application process for dependent children.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes guidance on the Health and Care visa to assist in making a visa application, including for dependents. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/health-care-worker-visa.
The guidance will be updated once the net migration changes announced in December come into force. Further details on the measures, and how carers and dependents will be affected, is available here: https://homeofficemedia.blog.gov.uk/2024/02/01/reducing-net-migration-factsheet-december-2023/.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that Indian migrant workers in the health and social care sector are paid at least the national minimum wage by recruitment agencies.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
For the Skilled Worker route, which includes health and care roles, international recruits must be paid at least the required minimum salary of £20,960 and £10.75 per hour, whichever is higher. The minimum salary is based on a 37.5-hour week but will need to be higher if the individual is contracted to work more hours. Failure to pay international staff the minimum salary requirement is in breach of United Kingdom immigration law. Illegal employment practices should be reported to the Gangmaster and Labour Abuse Authority who will investigate fully.
All employers of international health and care staff must follow the Code of Practice for the international recruitment of health and social care personnel in England to make sure staff are recruited ethically and are treated with respect. The code is available at the following link:
Providers should only engage with agencies and other recruiting organisations that are on the Ethical Recruiters List, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nhsemployers.org/articles/ethical-recruiters-list
Organisations on this list have committed to adhering to the Code of Practice.
The Home Office’s sponsor licence system places clear and binding requirements and obligations on employers looking to recruit and manage overseas workers. Sponsors are monitored to ensure that workers are paid appropriately. This includes regular checks with HM Revenue & Customs. Any discrepancies found are investigated and, if appropriate, action is taken against the sponsor.
Asked by: Lord Touhig (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what specialist support they offer to unaccompanied migrant children who have been arrested, including those who have been trafficked, to enable them to rebuild their lives.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department takes the welfare of unaccompanied migrant children extremely seriously and we are committed to ensuring they are safe and secure. Local authorities have a duty to provide services to all children in need in their area. Under Section 20 of the Children Act 1989, those under the age of 18 arriving as unaccompanied asylum-seekers should enter the care of the local authority in which area they first present.
All unaccompanied children, including those who have been arrested or trafficked, should be safeguarded and have their welfare promoted in the same way as any other looked-after child. Social Workers and other practitioners including police, health, education and youth offender services practitioners, and those who care for looked-after children, are encouraged to consider the full range of support available to looked after children in their areas, including that from community and other organisations.
The provisions under the Modern Slavery Act 2015 ensure that if there is uncertainty over whether a potential victim of trafficking is a child or an adult, then that person is presumed to be a child and receives the appropriate support without delay. If practitioners have concerns that a child may be a potential victim of modern slavery or human trafficking, then a referral should be made to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) as soon as possible. Guidance on making a referral can be found in the attached document. The NRM acts as a formal framework for first responders to identify potential victims of trafficking and assists with the provision of victim support. Like any other child in need, a trafficked child referred through the NRM should be safeguarded by the local authority on which the referral is made. Where it is evident that the child faces a significant risk of harm from the trafficker, appropriate arrangements will need to be put in place to keep the child safe from harm, and the child’s care plan should include such measures.
In addition, the Home Office has rolled out Independent Child Trafficking Guardians (ICTGs) to two thirds of local authorities in England and Wales. In June 2023, the Minister for Safeguarding agreed to extend the current grant agreement to 31 March 2025, alongside working to deliver ICTG national rollout covering all of England and Wales. ICTGs are an additional source of advice and support for potentially trafficked children, and somebody who can advocate on their behalf to ensure their best interests are reflected in the decision-making processes undertaken by the public authorities who are involved in the child’s care. The support they provided is in addition to the statutory support provided to children by local authorities. Statutory guidance on roles and responsibilities of ICTGs is attached.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied asylum-seeking children were housed in hotels in the UK in each of the last 12 months; what the average length of stay was for those children; and how many and what proportion of those children went missing in the same period.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The rise in the number of small boat crossings has placed significant pressures on local authority care placements for young people. Out of necessity, and with the best interests of the child in mind, we have had no alternative but to temporarily use hotels to give unaccompanied children a roof over their heads whilst local authority accommodation is found.
The Home Office takes the wellbeing, welfare and security of children and minors in our care extremely seriously. Robust safeguarding procedures are in place to ensure all children and minors are safe and supported as we seek urgent placements with local authorities.
The National Transfer scheme (NTS) transferred 3,148 children to local authorities with children's services between 1 July 2021 and 30 September 2022, which is over four times the number of transfers on the year before. To further expand the scheme, we are providing local authorities with children's services with an additional £15,000 for every eligible young person they take into their care from a dedicated UASC hotel, or the Reception and Safe Care Service in Kent, by the end of February 2023.
When any young person goes missing the 'missing persons protocol' is followed and led by our directly engaged social workers. A multi-agency, missing persons protocol is mobilised involving the police and the local authority, who have a shared statutory responsibility to safeguard all children including missing migrant children in order to establish their whereabouts and to ensure that they are safe.
The MARS (Missing After Reasonable Steps) protocol is followed for any looked after child who goes missing from a care setting, including the UASC hotels.
The average length of stay for those who arrived during this period was 19.85 days.
Of these 3,832 young people as of 28.02.23 there have been 410 missing episodes from the UASC Hotels, the number subsequently located on 224 occasions. Therefore 186 of these young people are still missing.
The safety and wellbeing of those in our care is our primary concern. Robust safeguarding and welfare procedures are in place to ensure all children and minors are safe and supported as we seek urgent placements with a local authority. This includes support workers being onsite in the hotels 24 hours a day, supported by nurses and social workers. UASC are not detained and are free to leave the accommodation. All contingency sites have security staff and providers liaise closely with local police to ensure the welfare and safety of vulnerable residents.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 26 January 2023 to Question 129806 on Asylum: Children, whether she plans to launch an inquiry into missing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
When any young person goes missing the ‘missing persons protocol’ is followed and led by our directly engaged social workers. A multi-agency, missing persons protocol is mobilised involving the police and the local authority, who have a shared statutory responsibility to safeguard all children including missing migrant children in order to establish their whereabouts and to ensure that they are safe.
The MARS (Missing After Reasonable Steps) protocol is followed for any looked after child who goes missing from a care setting, including the unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC) hotels.
The Home Office and Department for Education (DfE) have established a UASC taskforce which was convened in November 2022 which has been meeting regularly. This multiagency taskforce includes representatives for the Home Office, DfE, Department of Levelling Up Housing and Communities (DLUCH), the Association of Directors if Children’s Services (ACDS) and the Local Government Association (LGA) to consider strategic and tactical solutions to the management of UASC. It is co-chaired by DfE Permanent Secretary, Susan Acland-Hood and Home Office Second Permanent Secretary, Patricia Hayes.
The Home Office will continue to address risks of young people going missing and work with partners to locate them if they do.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of asylum-seeking minors placed in hotels procured by her Department and declared missing in the last 18 months have subsequently been traced.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The rise in the number of small boat crossings has placed significant pressures on local authority care placements for young people.
The Home Office takes the wellbeing, welfare and security of children and minors in our care extremely seriously. Robust safeguarding procedures are in place to ensure all children and minors are safe and supported as we seek urgent placements with local authorities.
The National Transfer scheme (NTS) transferred 3,148 children to local authorities with children’s services between 1 July 2021 and 30 September 2022, which is over four times the number of transfers on the year before. To further expand the scheme, we are providing local authorities with children’s services with an additional £15,000 for every eligible young person they take into their care from a dedicated UASC hotel, or the Reception and Safe Care Service in Kent, by the end of February 2023.
When any young person goes missing the ‘missing persons protocol’ is followed and led by our directly engaged social workers. A multi-agency, missing persons protocol is mobilised involving the police and the local authority, who have a shared statutory responsibility to safeguard all children including missing migrant children in order to establish their whereabouts and to ensure that they are safe.
The MARS (Missing After Reasonable Steps) protocol is followed for any looked after child who goes missing from a care setting, including the UASC hotels.
The information below sets out numbers of young people who went missing from the hotels housing unaccompanied children:
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to help ensure that unaccompanied asylum-seeking minors are adequately protected from potential abduction whilst staying in hotels procured by her Department.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The rise in the number of small boat crossings has placed significant pressures on local authority care placements for young people.
The Home Office takes the wellbeing, welfare and security of children and minors in our care extremely seriously. Robust safeguarding procedures are in place to ensure all children and minors are safe and supported as we seek urgent placements with local authorities.
The National Transfer scheme (NTS) transferred 3,148 children to local authorities with children’s services between 1 July 2021 and 30 September 2022, which is over four times the number of transfers on the year before. To further expand the scheme, we are providing local authorities with children’s services with an additional £15,000 for every eligible young person they take into their care from a dedicated UASC hotel, or the Reception and Safe Care Service in Kent, by the end of February 2023.
When any young person goes missing the ‘missing persons protocol’ is followed and led by our directly engaged social workers. A multi-agency, missing persons protocol is mobilised involving the police and the local authority, who have a shared statutory responsibility to safeguard all children including missing migrant children in order to establish their whereabouts and to ensure that they are safe.
The MARS (Missing After Reasonable Steps) protocol is followed for any looked after child who goes missing from a care setting, including the UASC hotels.
The information below sets out numbers of young people who went missing from the hotels housing unaccompanied children: