To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 10 January (HL4174), whether they will publish responses to the reports by (1) Help Refugees, Life for the Children of the Calais Jungle Post Eviction – An Uncertain Future, published on 15 December 2016, and (2) the Oasis Foundation, A Moral Imperative: The UK's Response to Unaccompanied Child Refugees.
Answered on
24 January 2017
There are no plans to publish responses to these reports. The primary responsibility for unaccompanied children in Europe lies with the authorities in the country in which children are present. However, we continue to work with European and international partners to reach a solution to the migration crisis and the UK has contributed significantly to hosting, supporting and protecting the most vulnerable children.
The Government has established a £10 million Refugee Children Fund to support the needs of vulnerable refugee and migrant children arriving in Europe and in the year ending September 2016, we granted asylum or another form of leave to over 8,000 children in the UK. In 2016 as a whole, we transferred over 900 unaccompanied asylum seeking children from within Europe to the UK. More eligible children will be transferred from Europe under the Immigration Act 2016 in the coming months and we will continue to meet our obligations under the Dublin Regulation to reunite asylum seeking children with their close families.