Oral Answers to Questions

Heidi Allen Excerpts

Monday 23rd January 2017 Commons Chamber

[Amber Rudd]

I thank the right hon. Lady for giving me this opportunity to join her in thanking the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust and the Holocaust Educational Trust for the extraordinary work that they do in reminding us all of what took place. I am one of the MPs—I am sure that there are many here—who took the opportunity to visit, and I will always remember the impact of that. I work closely with the Community Security Trust, and I made the hate crime action plan my priority. We will continue to work with the trust to ensure that we do what we can to stop any form of anti-Semitism.

[Heidi Allen (South Cambridgeshire) (Con)]

T10. More than 30,000 unaccompanied child refugees arrived in Greece and Italy last year. Building on the good work that we did in Calais, can the Minister give me an update on when we expect the first children to come from Greece and Italy under the Dubs criteria and whether he has a sense yet of how many there might be?

[The Minister for Immigration (Mr Robert Goodwill)]

In 2016, we transferred more than 900 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to the UK from Europe, including more than 750 from France as part of the UK’s support for the Calais camp clearance. Following consultation with local authorities, I remind the House that the Government will transfer “a specified number” of children, in accordance with section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016, who reasonably meet the intention and spirit of the provision. This will include more than 200 children already transferred from France. We will announce in due course the basis on which the remaining places will be filled, including from Greece and Italy, and the final number.