Asked by: Seamus Logan (Scottish National Party - Aberdeenshire North and Moray East)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department is taking steps to ensure that measures outlined in the Child Poverty Strategy designed to support families with newborn babies, including voucher schemes, are accessible to families seeking asylum.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The government is committed to ensuring that vulnerable migrant children receive the support to which they are entitled.
Asylum seekers and their dependents who would otherwise be destitute can obtain support under Section 95 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. In addition, asylum seeking families can access some of the support set out in the Child Poverty Strategy. This will include Best Start Family Hubs in England, which will be open to all families with children aged 0–19 (or up to 25 for young people with special educational needs and disabilities). The hubs will connect families to a wide range of support, including housing, employment, debt and welfare advice.
Asylum-seeking families are eligible for the 15 hour early education entitlement for 3- and 4-year-olds, and may be eligible for the 15 hour entitlement for 2-year-olds receiving additional forms of support.