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Scheduled Event - 5 Mar 2026, 3 p.m. - Add to calendar
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Commons - Westminster Hall debate - Westminster Hall
World Book Day
MP: Helen Hayes
Written Question
Immigration: Children in Care
Thursday 12th February 2026

Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her department is taking to ensure that every child in care has their immigration status resolved before turning 18.

Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)

The previous Home Secretary set out in the Immigration White Paper published on 12 May 2025 that the Home Office will ensure children who have been in the UK for some time, turn 18 and discover they do not have status, are fully supported and able to regularise their status and settle where appropriate. This will also include a clear pathway for those children in care and care leavers.

This commitment will be delivered primarily through an update to the ‘children in care policy.

As part of this, separate targeted engagement will take place with external stakeholders to help us to understand the challenges in this area and develop a policy solution which supports children in care without status while upholding the need to have a robust and coherent migration system. Children who have claimed asylum are dealt with under separate provisions.

A range of reforms are underway across the immigration and asylum system, and the development of a clear pathway to settlement for children in care and care leavers must be considered alongside these changes.

When handling child applications, all caseworkers must comply with their duty under Section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009, to have regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children.

Further detail on this will be set out in due course.

Scheduled Event - 10 Feb 2026, 2:30 p.m. - Add to calendar
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Commons - Westminster Hall debate - Westminster Hall
Funding for local authorities in inner London
MP: Helen Hayes
Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 10 Feb 2026
Inner-London Local Authorities: Funding

"I agree completely. The levy is a really important source of additional revenue into London, and it is so important that it is spent where it is needed. That does mean allowing councils to retain some of the receipts—I would say 50%, as London Councils is calling for—in order for …..."
Helen Hayes - View Speech

View all Helen Hayes (Lab - Dulwich and West Norwood) contributions to the debate on: Inner-London Local Authorities: Funding
Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 10 Feb 2026
Inner-London Local Authorities: Funding

"I am grateful to all hon. Members who have contributed to the debate today, particularly the hon. Member for Bromley and Biggin Hill (Peter Fortune), who is a great champion for his constituents and his borough of Bromley, and to my hon. Friends the Members for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green …..."
Helen Hayes - View Speech

View all Helen Hayes (Lab - Dulwich and West Norwood) contributions to the debate on: Inner-London Local Authorities: Funding
Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 10 Feb 2026
Inner-London Local Authorities: Funding

"I am not going to give way during this very short summing-up. [Interruption.] I would say to him that listening to his impassioned pleas on behalf of inner-London boroughs does sound a little bit like the arsonist complaining that the fire brigade is not putting out the fire quickly enough. …..."
Helen Hayes - View Speech

View all Helen Hayes (Lab - Dulwich and West Norwood) contributions to the debate on: Inner-London Local Authorities: Funding
Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 10 Feb 2026
Inner-London Local Authorities: Funding

"I am not taking an intervention; I have been really clear about that.

I am grateful to the Minister for her response. I fully appreciate the challenging situation that she is in, the complexity of her brief and the pressures that she is facing from colleagues and from councils all …..."
Helen Hayes - View Speech

View all Helen Hayes (Lab - Dulwich and West Norwood) contributions to the debate on: Inner-London Local Authorities: Funding
Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 10 Feb 2026
Inner-London Local Authorities: Funding

"I urge the hon. Member to reflect with a bit of humility on what his party did to local government funding when it was in power...."
Helen Hayes - View Speech

View all Helen Hayes (Lab - Dulwich and West Norwood) contributions to the debate on: Inner-London Local Authorities: Funding
Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 10 Feb 2026
Inner-London Local Authorities: Funding

"I beg to move,

That this House has considered funding for local authorities in inner London.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship today, Dr Murrison. My constituency includes part of the London borough of Lambeth and part of the London borough of Southwark. Before I was elected …..."
Helen Hayes - View Speech

View all Helen Hayes (Lab - Dulwich and West Norwood) contributions to the debate on: Inner-London Local Authorities: Funding
Speech in Westminster Hall - Tue 10 Feb 2026
Inner-London Local Authorities: Funding

"I am grateful to the hon. Member for his intervention. I will come on to talk about those sites in my constituency that have planning permission but currently are not funded to build the social homes that could be on those sites. I think that is an important part of …..."
Helen Hayes - View Speech

View all Helen Hayes (Lab - Dulwich and West Norwood) contributions to the debate on: Inner-London Local Authorities: Funding