Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they intend to propose a high-level pan-European meeting to consider the development and implementation of effective responses to the needs of unaccompanied refugee and migrant children.

We work with a wide range of organisations both in the UK and across Europe to safeguard and support vulnerable individuals and prevent them from becoming radicalised.

The Government recognises the plight of vulnerable children in Europe and we are taking action on a number of fronts to address this issue. We have established a £10 million Refugee Children Fund for Europe to support the needs of vulnerable refugee and migrant children arriving in Europe. Since 10 October over 750 unaccompanied minors have been transferred from France and more eligible children will be transferred from Europe, in line with the terms of the Immigration Act, in the coming months. We will continue to meet our obligations under the Dublin Regulation. The Home Secretary and Immigration Minister have met with their Italian counterparts recently to discuss this issue, and the UK is in regular contact with our European partners at all levels. There is already sufficient scope for the UK to discuss responses to the needs of unaccompanied children with our European partners.