Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they are proposing to resettle in the UK a proportion of the estimated 85,000 unaccompanied child refugees who have made asylum applications in other EU member countries.

Under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016, the Government committed to relocating a specified number of unaccompanied child refugees from Europe. The specified number will be announced in due course.

Under the family reunion provisions of the Dublin III Regulation, unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who have family already in the UK can be transferred to the UK for consideration of their asylum claim. Between 1 January 2016 and 1 October 2016, over 140 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children in Europe have been accepted for transfer to the UK under the family reunion provisions of the Dublin Regulation, compared to fewer than 20 in 2015.

Since 10 October, we have transferred over 300 unaccompanied children to the UK from France. This includes over 80 girls, many of whom were identified as being at a high risk of sexual exploitation; and more than 200 children with close family links to the UK under the Dublin III Regulation. The Home Secretary told Parliament on 24 October that several hundred more children and young people will be brought to the UK in the coming days and weeks.