Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether and if so when, and under what authority, the specified number of young asylum seekers to be received into the UK was fixed at 480.

In accordance with section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016, the Government conducted a comprehensive consultation with local authorities across the UK in 2016 on the number of children they would be able to accommodate and support in addition to the more than 4,500 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children already being looked after by local authorities across the country.
Following the consultation, in April 2017, the Government set the specified number of children to be transferred under section 67 at 480. This is a one-off commitment.

The Government maintains a continual dialogue with local authorities and Strategic Migration Partnerships. Any further places offered by local authorities will be gratefully received, and we will use them to fulfil our existing commitments, including ensuring a fairer distribution of unaccompanied asylum seeking children between local authorities through the National Transfer Scheme.