Asked by Lord Dubs To ask Her Majesty's Government how many
unaccompanied child refugees have entered the United Kingdom under
(1) section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016, or (2) the Dublin III
regulations. The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Williams
of Trafford) (Con) My...Request free
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Asked by
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To ask Her Majesty's Government how many unaccompanied
child refugees have entered the United Kingdom under (1)
section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016, or (2) the Dublin
III regulations.
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My Lords, in 2016, we transferred over 900 unaccompanied
asylum-seeking children to the UK from Europe. The
Government are fully committed to implementing Section 67
of the Immigration Act 2016, and more than 200 children
are already here under that scheme. We are working
closely with EU partners to implement Section 67 of the
Immigration Act and ensure that children with qualifying
family in the UK can be transferred quickly and safely
under the Dublin III regulations.
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My Lords, if I have heard correctly, am I right in
thinking that the Government have changed their policy
from before the election when they set a cap on Section
67 children coming here, which was going to be 480 in
total? Will the Minister confirm that that cap no longer
applies?
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My Lords, the figure that we set before the election was
based on the capacity of local authorities to accommodate
those children through Section 67. As the noble Lord
knows, and I have apologised for this, there was an
administrative error and that number is now 480. I do
apologise. It was not so much a cap as the ability of
local authorities to accommodate these children. I have
said before at this Dispatch Box that our doors are
always open for local authorities to come to us and say
that they can accommodate more children.
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My Lords, when the Minister comes to look again at the
Dublin regulations with a view to replacing them, will
she look to see if there are ways of setting aside the
regulations that require unaccompanied children to travel
very long distances from places such as Greece so that
they can be reunited with their families? Given the
evidence that I sent her previously from Europol about
the 10,000 unaccompanied children who went missing on the
continent and the more than 360, according to the
Independent, who have gone missing in the United Kingdom,
can the Minister tell us what has been the fate and what
is her speculation about the fate of those unaccompanied
minors?
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The noble Lord asked first about Dublin III and what
those regulations might look like in the future. We will
always co-operate with our European partners in terms of
taking unaccompanied children and asylum seekers into
this country. It is important to note—the noble Lord
alluded to this—that some of these children have to
travel many miles. The work that we do in the regions is
in many ways more beneficial to these children. There is
a huge economy of scale both in financial terms and in
the welfare of these children—as well as adults—for them
to be helped in the region.
The noble Lord has brought up the issue of missing
children before. Of course we work with Europol. When a
child is in a European country, that child or adult is
the responsibility of that country and we cannot
intervene in countries without abiding by the laws and
processes of those countries.
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My Lords, the chaotic demolition of the Jungle camp in
Calais last October culminated in hundreds of
unaccompanied minors being dispersed to hastily
knocked-up centres in France. Those centres were closed
in February and to my certain knowledge a good number of
those children, with legal rights to come to the UK, are
nevertheless still wandering around France living a
hand-to-mouth existence. Will the Minister see to it that
the Home Office completes the assessment process which
was started but never concluded in respect of these
children?
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My Lords, I do not decry what the noble Baroness is
saying, but as I have just said to the noble Lord, if a
child is in France, that child is the responsibility of
the French authorities. I have said this many times and I
reiterate it now. But I would also say to her that this
Government stand willing to help in the process of
resettling children. On the point about the demolition of
the camps and children wandering around France, I would
love the noble Baroness to give me any evidence she has
of that. She knows that I respond to and follow up on the
emails she sends to me, and I am happy to do that, but
evidence is what we need. We can then work with our
counterparts. However, we cannot just go into France and
start moving and removing children as we would want.
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My Lords, I have been to Calais and have talked to
priests there who on a daily basis are being teargassed
along with children aged under 18, and some of them as
young as 12. Do the Government understand that that is
happening? I also understand that Northern Ireland has
not been asked to take any of these children but I gather
has expressed a willingness to do so.
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My Lords, if children are being teargassed, that is very
regrettable and I will certainly follow up the point made
by the noble and learned Baroness because we would not
want that to be happening. Obviously the latter point is
a matter for Northern Ireland and we are grateful for any
resettlement activity which takes place there. Some 440
people have been resettled in Northern Ireland under the
Syrian vulnerable persons resettlement programme. Clearly
that is voluntary but we would welcome anything in
addition to it.
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My Lords, recalling the answer that the noble Baroness
gave me before the election and bearing in mind that some
of the most vulnerable of these children are those with
physical or learning disabilities, can she indicate
whether any children in this category have been welcomed
here so far?
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The noble Lord has raised an important question, and in
fact I think that the noble Lord, Lord Dubs, mentioned it
the other day in his speech in response to the Queen’s
Speech. I should like to state categorically that there
are no restrictions on children with mental health or
physical disabilities from coming here. The category is
obviously that of children who are vulnerable and in need
of our protection and we would not in any way exclude
those with mental or physical disabilities. What might be
a restriction, and I will look into this for the noble
Lord, is where a local authority does not have the
capacity to take such a child. However, we would not
discriminate against any child on the grounds of mental
or physical disability.
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