Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what is the age range of migrant children reported missing from Home Office hotels in the last twelve months.

The Home Office has no power to hold under-18s in hotels or any temporary accommodation if they wish to leave.

We have robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in hotels are as safe and supported as possible as we seek urgent placements with a local authority.

Young people are supported by team leaders and support workers who are on site 24 hours a day.

Records are kept and monitored of children leaving and returning to the hotel. Support workers will accompany children off site on activities and social excursions, or where specific vulnerabilities are identified. All sites have security staff to ensure the safety and welfare of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.

Local authorities have a statutory duty to protect all children, regardless of where they go missing from. In the concerning occasion when any child goes missing, regardless of their status, they work closely with other local agencies, including the police, to urgently establish their whereabouts and ensure they are safe.

Since July 2021, when UASC were first accommodated in hotels, there have been 440 missing episodes (the term episode used as some children have gone missing been located and subsequently gone missing again). As of 26 January 2023, 199 remain missing.