Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has commissioned research into whether the Dubs scheme for unaccompanied child refugees encouraged people trafficking.

The migration crisis has shown that pull factors, such as policy changes and political messaging, can influence the movements of migrants. We are clear that we do not want to incentivise perilous journeys to Europe, particularly by the most vulnerable children. It is for this reason that section 67 is a one–off commitment and only children present in Europe before 20 March 2016 are eligible.

The Government takes the issue of people trafficking extremely seriously and that is why we have commissioned Caroline Haughey to examine the effectiveness of the Modern Slavery Act. Furthermore, the Prime Minister has set up a new Modern Slavery Taskforce to drive improvements to the operational response to trafficking and slavery. This work will support the Government to build on our existing far-reaching approach to tackling people trafficking.