Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has set up a cross-departmental ministerial taskforce with the Secretary of State for Education and the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on safeguarding unaccompanied asylum seeking children housed in Home Office-run hotels.

The Home Office and DfE have established a UASC Taskforce which was convened in November 2022 and meets regularly. This multiagency taskforce includes representatives from the Home Office, DfE, DLUHC, the Association of Directors of Children’s Services (ADCS) and the Local Government Association (LGA) to consider strategic and tactical solutions to the management of UASC. It is co-chaired by DfE Permanent Secretary, Susan Acland-Hood and Home Office Second Permanent Secretary, Patricia Hayes.