Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Education and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on (a) trends in the level of suicide among young asylum seekers in the last five years and (b) the adequacy of cross-departmental working on safeguarding for these young people.

The Home Secretary engages regularly with ministerial colleagues across government on a range of issues relating to asylum, including safeguarding and the welfare of vulnerable individuals.

The Home Office works closely with the Department for Education, the Department of Health and Social Care, and other partners at both ministerial and official level to support effective safeguarding arrangements and share information on risks affecting asylum seekers.

Where an individual is in the care of a local authority as a looked after child under its statutory duties in the Children Act 1989, that authority is responsible for considering and addressing all relevant matters linked to those duties, including risk assessment and safeguarding.