Asylum: Children in Care

(asked on 12th July 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has plans to bring forward secondary legislation to ensure that children who (a) arrive in the UK without a parent or carer and (b) are entitled to be looked after by local authorities under the Children Act 1989 are (i) provided care and protection as looked after children and (ii) not housed in hotels.


Answered by
Brendan Clarke-Smith Portrait
Brendan Clarke-Smith
This question was answered on 15th July 2022

We have no plans to bring forward secondary legislation. The Home Office has been temporarily accommodating unaccompanied asylum seeking children in hotels on an emergency basis whilst they await a permanent local authority placement. Since February 2022, all local authorities with children’s services in the UK have been directed to participate in the National Transfer Scheme (NTS) with the aim of ensuring that children are moved out of hotel accommodation and into the care of a local authority as quickly as possible. We have seen an increased rate of transfers since directed transfers under the NTS started. The department and the Home Office are working together on plans to exit the hotels accommodating unaccompanied asylum seeking children as soon as possible.

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