Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to report on the circumstances regarding unaccompanied children who have gone missing from hotels, including (1) lessons learned, and (2) steps taken, to prevent recurrence; and when any such report will be published.

The high number of UASC arrivals placed unprecedented pressure on the National Transfer Scheme. Out of necessity the Home Office accommodated UASC on an emergency and temporary basis in hotels while placements with local authorities have been vigorously pursued. We are working at pace with Kent County Council, other government departments and local authorities across the UK to ensure suitable local authority placements are provided for unaccompanied children urgently and sustainably.

Those in hotels are supported by team leaders and support workers who are on site 24 hours a day. Further support is provided on site by teams of social workers and nurses. Staff receive a number of briefings and guidance on how to safeguard children. All children receive a welfare interview, which includes a series of questions specifically designed to understand whether there are any potential indicators of trafficking or particular safeguarding issues. All contingency sites have security staff on site 24/7 and providers liaise closely with local police to ensure the welfare and safety of vulnerable residents.

When any young person goes missing - UASC or British citizen - the 'missing after reasonable steps" protocol is followed and led by our directly engaged social workers. The process is to follow this protocol developed by the police and work in conjunction with the LA (Local Authorities) children's services to invoke a missing child multi agency strategy meeting chaired by children's services.

The statutory guidance owned by the Department for Education requires local authorities to share information regarding all missing children locally in a multi-agency forum, therefore when a child goes missing from a hotel, the relevant local authority will convene a strategy meeting regarding them.