Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what estimate he has made of the number of British nationals associated with ISIS detained in north-east Syria in areas under the control of the Kurdish authorities; and how many of those British nationals are children.

We are aware that British nationals, including children, are located in IDP camps in north east Syria. Due to the shifting circumstances on the ground we are not in a position currently to make an accurate estimate of their number.

We endeavour to locate British unaccompanied or orphaned children, who are innocent victims of war, and work with partners to facilitate their return where feasible (taking into account national security concerns). Establishing their whereabouts and identity is not straightforward, but we have facilitated a number of such returns to the UK. The Foreign Secretary noted on 21 November 2019, following the first repatriation of children, that they "should never have been subjected to the horrors of war" and that their return home was facilitated "because it was the right thing to do." Each case is considered on a case by case basis.