Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to her oral contribution to the second reading debate on the Illegal Migration Bill on 14 March 2023, Official Report, Column 580, what steps she is taking to ensure that unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are removed from the UK only (a) for the purposes of family reunion and (b) in other limited circumstances.

The Illegal Migration Bill provides the Home Secretary with a legal duty to remove people who have entered the UK illegally.

The Secretary of State is not required to make arrangements to remove an unaccompanied child from the UK until they turn 18 years old. As a matter of current policy, this power will only be exercised in very limited circumstances ahead of them reaching adulthood, such as for the purposes of family reunion or where removal is to a safe country of origin.

Unaccompanied children who arrive in the UK illegally will be provided with the necessary accommodation and support but they will not be able to settle in the UK.

Taking these measures will send a clear message that children cannot be exploited and forced into crossing the Channel in small boats for the purpose of starting a new life in the UK.

The only way to come to the UK for protection will be through safe and legal routes. This will take power out of the hands of the criminal gangs and protect vulnerable people, including children.