Asylum: Children

Home Office written question – answered at on 20 October 2016.

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Photo of Deidre Brock Deidre Brock Shadow SNP Westminster Group Leader (Scottish Parliament/Scottish Government Liaison), Shadow SNP Spokesperson (Devolved Government Relations)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that unaccompanied refugee children in Europe with an existing family connection in the UK have their asylum under the Dublin Regulation processed without undue delay.

Photo of Deidre Brock Deidre Brock Shadow SNP Westminster Group Leader (Scottish Parliament/Scottish Government Liaison), Shadow SNP Spokesperson (Devolved Government Relations)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time is between application for asylum and transfer to the UK for unaccompanied children in Europe who are accepted for humanitarian protection under the Dublin regulation.

Photo of Robert Goodwill Robert Goodwill The Minister for Immigration

The Government is fully committed to the efficient and timely operation of the Dublin Regulation and we are working closely with EU partners, including the French, Greek and Italian authorities to identify, assess and transfer children to the UK under the Dublin family reunion process.

We have seconded a UK official to Greece; we have a long-standing secondee working in Italy and we have seconded another official to the French Interior Ministry to support these efforts. We have established a dedicated team in the Home Office Dublin Unit to lead on family reunion cases for unaccompanied children.

Between 1 January and 1 October 2016 over 140 unaccompanied children were accepted for transfer, compared to around 20 children in the whole of 2015.Transfer requests from Member States involving children under the Dublin Regulation are now generally processed within 10 days. Children can then be transferred within weeks and are now arriving in the UK on an almost weekly basis.The Home Secretary made clear on the 10th October that we will transfer as many minors as possible to the UK, who are eligible under the Dublin Regulation before the camp clearance starts.

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