Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, since the transfer of 549 unaccompanied children to the UK from the Calais region for reunion with their families in the UK, they are no longer searching for other similar children in transit in Europe; and if so, why not.

In October 2016, the UK acted decisively and on an exceptional basis at the time of the Calais camp clearance to remove 769 vulnerable unaccompanied children from a dangerous situation where they were at risk of violence and abuse. Our action resulted in 220 children being relocated to the UK under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016, and the remaining 549 children being transferred to reunite with family members already in the UK.

On 11 October we laid a new Immigration Rule, which created a new form of leave for any of these cases that have not already been granted a form of leave. This leave will only be available for those that were bought over as part of the Calais clearance exercise in October 2016, who were under the age of 18 at this time, and who had recognised family ties in the UK. Individuals who qualify for this leave will have the right to study, work, access public funds and healthcare, and can apply for settlement after ten years.

We continue to meet our obligations under the EU Dublin III Regulation to transfer unaccompanied children with qualifying family legally present in the UK as soon as possible. We have liaison officers based in Italy, Greece and France working with Member States’ governments and partner organisations to identify eligible children and support them through the Dublin process.

As part of the Sandhurst Treaty, signed between the UK and France in January 2018, we announced a number of measures to support unaccompanied children into the asylum system and through the Dublin process. This includes agreement on shorter timescales for referral and transfer un-der Dublin and a £3.6 million development fund to support eligible claims through the Dublin process and ensure those children who are not eligible for transfer to the UK are informed of their options.