Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied children are supported by each local authority; how many children each local authority has offered to support; and what support has been offered to local authorities to increase their capacity to provide appropriate psychological support for unaccompanied child refugees.

Published data on unaccompanied asylum seeking children can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-statistics-april-to-june-2017/how-many-people-do-we-grant-asylum-or-protection-to#unaccompanied-asylum-seeking-children.

There are over 4,000 unaccompanied asylum seeking children (UASC) in local authority care in the UK.

The National Transfer Scheme was launched on 1 July 2016 and has been working to ensure a fairer allocation of UASC across the UK. A significant number of local authorities have participated in the scheme and enabled the transfer of children away from local authorities with a disproportionate number of UASC in their care.

The Government welcomes all offers from local authorities with capacity to look after UASC. We continue to engage with local authorities across the country to encourage further participation.

In support of the National Transfer Scheme central government increased funding to local authorities caring for UASC by up to 33% in July 2016. In August 2017 a review of funding for UASC was launched and all local authorities who currently look after unaccompanied children have been invited to submit evidence.