Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many children who remained in the UK without a deported parent were taken into care in each of the last ten years.

The information you have requested is not available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Under the UK Borders Act 2007, a deportation order must be made where a foreign national has been convicted of an offence and received a custodial sentence of 12 months or more. This is subject to several exceptions, including where to do so would be a breach of a person’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights or the UK’s obligations under the Refugee Convention.

The deportation of a foreign national offender is considered on its individual merits, including assessment of a genuine and subsisting relationship with a child and the effect of deportation on the child.

In every decision, Home Office staff will have regard to the need to safeguard and promote the best interests of any children in line with our duty under section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009.