Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Section 20 rules to apply to stay in the UK under the EU Settlement Scheme, what support her Department is providing to local authorities to enable them to work with looked-after children that are EU nationals.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Home Office has put in place a comprehensive vulnerability strategy to ensure that the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) is accessible for all, including children in care.
For England, Scotland and Wales local authorities (LAs) and for Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Trusts (HSCTs) will have responsibility in ensuring that applications are made on behalf of all looked after children for whom they have full parental responsibility and who are EEA citizens or family members and to assist with accessing services with status once granted.
If the child is cared for under shared care provisions, it is LAs and HSCTs responsibility to ensure that the child, and their carers, are aware of the need to make an application to the EUSS, signposting them to practical support where needed.
To help local authorities prepare for the launch of the EU Settlement Scheme, the Home Office made several recommendations. Identifying the eligible cohort of children and care leavers was one of the recommendations, along with identifying resource to manage this work stream.
The Children Act 1989 provides the legal framework for local authorities to promote a child’s welfare and best interests, setting out statutory duties in relation to looked after children in England, with respective authorities for the devolved administrations. Statutory guidance is provided by DfE in relation to this. This statutory duty to promote best interests, coupled with funding provided to local authorities under a new burdens assessment should ensure that this important work will be done.
Additionally, the Home Office has been holding monthly teleconferences for local authority staff who are undertaking this work. A designated help-line number has also been made available for local authority staff to contact trained caseworkers in the Home Office should they need to discuss any aspect of the EU Settlement Scheme.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that children in care that are EU nationals are informed of the potential requirement to apply to secure their status in the UK.
Answered by Brandon Lewis
The Home Office has put in place a comprehensive vulnerability strategy to ensure that the EU Settlement Scheme (EUSS) is accessible for all, including children in care.
For England, Scotland and Wales local authorities (LAs) and for Northern Ireland Health and Social Care Trusts (HSCTs) will have responsibility in ensuring that applications are made on behalf of all looked after children for whom they have full parental responsibility and who are EEA citizens or family members and to assist with accessing services with status once granted.
If the child is cared for under shared care provisions, it is LAs and HSCTs responsibility to ensure that the child, and their carers, are aware of the need to make an application to the EUSS, signposting them to practical support where needed.
To help local authorities prepare for the launch of the EU Settlement Scheme, the Home Office made several recommendations. Identifying the eligible cohort of children and care leavers was one of the recommendations, along with identifying resource to manage this work stream.
The Children Act 1989 provides the legal framework for local authorities to promote a child’s welfare and best interests, setting out statutory duties in relation to looked after children in England, with respective authorities for the devolved administrations. Statutory guidance is provided by DfE in relation to this. This statutory duty to promote best interests, coupled with funding provided to local authorities under a new burdens assessment should ensure that this important work will be done.
Additionally, the Home Office has been holding monthly teleconferences for local authority staff who are undertaking this work. A designated help-line number has also been made available for local authority staff to contact trained caseworkers in the Home Office should they need to discuss any aspect of the EU Settlement Scheme.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her Department's policies of the findings of the Children’s Society report entitled Counting lives, published in July 2019.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Criminal exploitation in the form of county lines has a devastating impact on those affected and we must work together to identify and safeguard the victims and potential victims of this form of exploitation as early as possible.
Our Serious Violence Strategy sets out our approach to tackling county lines and its related exploitation and through this we have delivered a range of action to enhance our approach to tackling this issue.
This includes providing £3.6m for a new National County Lines Co-ordination Centre. Launched in September 2018 the NCLCC has already led three separate weeks of law enforcement ‘intensification’ leading to 1600 arrests and safeguarding of over 2100 individuals. Through the Early Intervention Youth Fund we are also funding 10 projects with a specific county lines focus to support victims and potential victims of this exploitation. We have also worked to increase awareness of county lines exploitation amongst those best placed to spot it and have published guidance for frontline professionals on how to identify potential victims of county lines and appropriate referral routes.
We welcome the report published by the Children’s Society and will consider its findings carefully as we continue to develop and strengthen our response to county lines.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department plans to make an assessment of whether combustible materials in the roof contributed to the spread of the fire at the Premier Inn near Cribbs Causeway on 18 July 2019.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Avon FRS has confirmed that it will be conducting an investigation into the fire.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria his Department used to calculate the £250 cost for nationality status letters issued by his Department.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The fee of £250 to make an application for a nationality status letter is set at the estimated unit cost to process the application.
The Home Office publish a summary of how estimated unit costs are calculated and include this narrative as a footnote to the table published on Gov.UK, which can be found by the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/visa-fees-transparency-data
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department plans to create a statutory definition of child criminal exploitation.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
The Independent Review of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 considered the definition of exploitation under the Act and found it is sufficiently flexible to meet a range of new and emerging forms of modern slavery.
The Government welcomes this finding and continues to work with the police and the Crown Prosecution Service to take full advantage of powers in the Modern Slavery Act. We note that there have been recent prosecutions under the Modern Slavery Act for cases of child criminal exploitation. The Government Response to the Independent Review was published on 9 July and is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-response-to-the-independent-review-of-the-modern-slavery-act
In addition, there is an existing, published definition of child criminal exploitation in the Serious Violence Strategy. The strategy is available here:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/698009/serious-violence-strategy.pdf
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department plans to issue national guidance to local authorities on tackling child criminal exploitation through county lines.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
In July 2018 the Government published statutory guidance on inter-agency working to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. The ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ guidance is intended for and should be read and followed by frontline practitioners and strategic leaders in local authorities, together with other organisations and agencies that commission and provide services for children and families. The guidance specifically highlights the risk to children from exploitation by criminal gangs and organised crime groups such as county lines. It also makes clear that children who may be alleged perpetrators should also be assessed to understand the impact of contextual issues on their safety and welfare.
The Government is committed to increasing awareness of county lines exploitation amongst those best placed to spot it and published guidance for frontline professionals in July 2017, which was reviewed and updated in September 2018, on how to identify potential victims of county lines and appropriate referral routes.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many British children living in (a) Croydon North constituency and (b) the London Borough of Croydon are looked after by parents who are designated as having no recourse to public funds.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The no recourse to public funds (NRPF) condition is applied to the leave of most migrants in the UK as a legitimate means of maintaining and protecting our economic resources.
In those cases where leave has been, or is being, granted for family or private life reasons the NRPF condition can be lifted on application to the Home Office if that is necessary to meet the welfare needs of children. In addition, immigration legislation specifically provides for children to remain eligible for support from a local authority under section 17 of the Children Act 1989, and an assessment of welfare needs will be part of providing that support.
Information about NRPF is held on individual case files for applications, which do not indicate whether an individual is part of the UK’s resident population. Wider population data, such as that requested in relation to the London Borough of Croydon, and that requested for all households nationally, is not held by the Home Office.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of the effect on the well-being of children of their parents being subject to no recourse to public funds.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The no recourse to public funds (NRPF) condition is applied to the leave of most migrants in the UK as a legitimate means of maintaining and protecting our economic resources.
In those cases where leave has been, or is being, granted for family or private life reasons the NRPF condition can be lifted on application to the Home Office if that is necessary to meet the welfare needs of children. In addition, immigration legislation specifically provides for children to remain eligible for support from a local authority under section 17 of the Children Act 1989, and an assessment of welfare needs will be part of providing that support.
Information about NRPF is held on individual case files for applications, which do not indicate whether an individual is part of the UK’s resident population. Wider population data, such as that requested in relation to the London Borough of Croydon, and that requested for all households nationally, is not held by the Home Office.
Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people living in (a) Croydon North constituency and (b) the London borough of Croydon are designated as having no recourse to public funds.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The no recourse to public funds (NRPF) condition is applied to the leave of most migrants in the UK as a legitimate means of maintaining and protecting our economic resources.
In those cases where leave has been, or is being, granted for family or private life reasons the NRPF condition can be lifted on application to the Home Office if that is necessary to meet the welfare needs of children. In addition, immigration legislation specifically provides for children to remain eligible for support from a local authority under section 17 of the Children Act 1989, and an assessment of welfare needs will be part of providing that support.
Information about NRPF is held on individual case files for applications, which do not indicate whether an individual is part of the UK’s resident population. Wider population data, such as that requested in relation to the London Borough of Croydon, and that requested for all households nationally, is not held by the Home Office.