Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many children have been reunited with their families in the UK in (a) the last five years and (b) the last year under (i) the EU Dublin III Regulations, (ii) part 11 of the UK immigration rules, (iii) other parts of the UK immigration rules and (iv) under exceptional circumstances.
Answered by James Brokenshire
It is not possible to provide a full answer to this question. I shall write to the hon. Gentleman on the issues he has raised.
Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress her Department has made on rolling out independent child trafficking advocates.
Answered by Karen Bradley
The Government is committed to introducing appropriate support for trafficked children. It is important we get these structures right however, given the significant risks to these children.
In line with the requirements of Section 48(7) of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the Government laid a report before Parliament in December 2015 setting out the steps we proposed to take in relation to independent child trafficking advocates. The full report can be obtained here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-child-trafficking-advocates-trial-government-report
Since December 2015, we have worked to address issues identified during the trial. We have engaged with Members of both Houses, the offices of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and Children’s Commissioner for England. We have also sought views from the voluntary sector and statutory organisations in England and Wales. This engagement has been valuable in assessing how best to deliver an improved service for trafficked children in England and Wales.
As part of this engagement, I wrote to the Chairs of the three All Party Parliamentary Groups with the strongest interest in the trial in March, saying that I would wait to receive their views in writing before making a statement to the House about how we will proceed. This week I received letters from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery and from the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner. I am reflecting on their recommendations and will provide an update to Parliament once we have had an opportunity to consider their valuable input.
Asked by: David Burrowes (Conservative - Enfield, Southgate)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Written Statement of 21 April 2016 on Refugees and Resettlement, HCWS687, how many of the 75 expert personnel will be working to identify and process individuals who are eligible for family reunification transfers to other EU countries under the Dublin III Regulation.
Answered by James Brokenshire
Pursuant to my statement of 21 April, HCWS687, the 75 UK expert personnel deployed to Greece to support implementation of the EU-Turkey Migration Agreement will conduct a number of duties. A proportion of the UK expert personnel will work closely with European Asylum Support Officer (EASO) coordinators and the Greek Asylum Service to process cases through the admissibility process and provide expert support to the Greek authorities and other EU partners on overall co-ordination of the response. Supporting the operation of the Greek asylum service is a fundamental part of this Government’s approach to identifying children in need of protection at the earliest possible opportunity and ensuring children are identified as eligible for family reunification consideration under the terms of Dublin Regulation.
This of course is in addition to the support that we are already providing to European partner Dublin Units. Following calls from EASO we have already deployed two UK experts to support the Greek Dublin Unit and a third is due to be deployed in May. We are also deploying an expert to the Italian Dublin Unit in May under the hotspot operation mission. This deployment is in addition to the long term support we are providing to the Italian Dublin through a bilateral agreement. We are confident that through our concerted joint efforts we can identify and facilitate the swift transfers of cases through our national systems and make effective use of the Dublin Regulation.