Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what arrangements are in place to provide ongoing specialist support to young people in any period between leaving the Independent Child Trafficking Advocate scheme at 18 years old and receiving a conclusive grounds decision under the National Referral Mechanism.

From January 2017 to January 2018, 12 children exited the Independent Child Trafficking Advocate (ICTA) service because they turned 18. The data collected by the Home Office is anonymised for evaluation purposes. It is therefore not possible to cross-reference this with decision-making data from the National Referral Mechanism (NRM). More information on the ICTA service and children who exited support can be found in the Interim Report published by the Home Office in July, and the accompanying data tables on https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/an-assessment-of-independent-child-trafficking-advocates-interim-findings

On turning 18, any young person who is awaiting an NRM decision, becomes eligible for support from The Salvation Army through the Victim Care Contract. This includes outreach and accommodation support where necessary. We are currently preparing to retender this contact which will be operational from 1 April 2020 and will include drop in services for up to 6 months post-conclusive grounds decision. It is part of the ICTA’s role to ensure they effectively transition children turning 18 into appropriate support upon leaving the ICTA service.