Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the (a) capacity to inspect hotels housing unaccompanied children and (b) child safeguarding expertise of (i) Ofsted and (ii) the independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration; and if she will make a statement.

Ofsted assisted the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) in the inspection on the use of hotels for housing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) due to their expertise in child safeguarding. The inspection found that ‘unanimously’ the young people accommodated at the interim hotels reported feeling ‘happy and safe’.

We are taking a new power in the Illegal Migration Bill to provide or arrange for the provision of accommodation for unaccompanied children. Our policy intention is to ensure that whilst time in this accommodation is expected to be short, we will be seeking to meet standards which are appropriate for the accommodation so that children are sufficiently supported and safeguarded.

We are working closely with the Department for Education and relevant stakeholders on the appropriate standards which should apply. With regards to inspection, we expect to be transparent in allowing scrutiny of our accommodation linked to any agreed appropriate standards.