Asylum: Children

Home Office written question – answered at on 24 April 2017.

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Photo of Lisa Nandy Lisa Nandy Labour, Wigan

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied asylum seeking children were screened in (a) Croydon and (b) Salford in each year between 2010 and 2016.

Photo of Lisa Nandy Lisa Nandy Labour, Wigan

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what financial assistance is provided for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to travel to their screening interview.

Photo of Lisa Nandy Lisa Nandy Labour, Wigan

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is her Department's policy to allow unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to be screened as close to their home in the UK as possible.

Photo of Robert Goodwill Robert Goodwill The Minister for Immigration

Asylum seeking children can arrive or be encountered in the UK in a variety of ways. The full policy and guidance for processing such claims is set out in the Processing Children’s Asylum Claims instruction which is published:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/537010/Processing-children_s-asylum-claims-v1.pdf

When an asylum seeking child is encountered they will undergo a welfare interview in order to record their basic information and identify any immediate welfare concerns. Those unaccompanied children who are unable to travel to the Asylum Intake Unit in Croydon are able to register their claim and undergo a welfare interview at the nearest available Home Office location. It is not possible to determine how many unaccompanied asylum seeking children have had welfare interviews in different locations without an examination of individual records which could only be achieved at disproportionate cost.

In July 2016 the Government significantly increased the funding it provides to local authorities who look after UASC. Local authorities now receive £41,610 per annum year for each unaccompanied asylum-seeking child aged under 16 and £33,215 per annum for unaccompanied asylum-seeking child aged 16 and 17. This represents a 20% and 28% increase in funding respectively.

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