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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-06-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they and other EU member states are taking to increase the number of competent interpreters available for interviewing and assessing refugees on (1) the islands and mainland of Greece, and (2) in south-east Europe.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The UK continues to assist Member States facing particular migratory pressures and has responded to the request by the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) for Member States to provide interpreters to support the function of the Greek asylum system.

The UK has offered up to 20 interpreters to help with the processing of migrants on the Greek Islands, a number of whom have already been deployed. We are working with EASO, the Greeks and the European Commission to plan further deployments. We also continue to work with Greece and the European Commission on how the UK can most effectively bolster their operational and deployment plan(s) and are very clear that we stand ready to do more.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-06-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to speed up family reunions for refugees and migrants now in Europe, particularly in Greece, Italy and France; and whether special provision has been made for the 1,400 unaccompanied children in Greece, and households headed by women.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

The Goverment continues to work with key EU Member States to ensure the Dublin Regulation family reunification process works effectively.

Under the UK-France Joint Declaration of 20 August 2015, the UK and France have committed to ensuring that provisions of the Dublin III Regulation are used efficiently and effectively. To assist the handling of such cases, the two Governments have established a permanent official contact group, agree single points of contact within respective Dublin Units and a UK asylum expert was seconded to the French administration to faciliate the improvement of all stages of the process. The UK and France are running regular joint communication campaigns in northern France which inform unaccompanied children and others of their right to claim asylum in France and the family reunion process.

We are also providing support to the Dublin units in Greece and Italy, both bilaterally and through European Asylum Support Office (EASO).

On the 4 May the Prime Minister announced the Goverment will work with local authorities on plans to resettle unaccompanied refugee children from Europe. We are looking to transfer children who are already present in Europe before the EU-Turkey deal came into force on 20 March.

Ministers and senior officials are engaged in ongoing discussions with Greece, Italy, and France to identify and transfer to the UK unaccompanied refugee children where it is in their best interests. We are also consulting local authorities, non-governmental organsitations, UNICEF and UNHCR.

The UK is the largest bilateral contributor to the humanitarian response to the crisis in Europe and the Balkans with a total contribution of £65 million. This includes nearly £46 million to provide life saving aid to migrants and refugees including food, water, hygiene kits and infant packs, and protection for the most vunerable, as well as support to organisations helping goverments build their capacity to manage arrivals in Greece and the Balkans. The efforts of the partners we fund are targeted to reach the most vulnerable including children.

It also includes the £10 million Refugee Children Fund the Department for International Development (DFID) has created the needs to vulnerable refugee and migrant children specifically in Europe. The fund will support three specialist and mandated organisations the UNHCR, Save the Children and the International Rescue Committee to work with host authorities to care for and assist unaccompanied or separated children in Europe and the Balkans.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-06-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they expect the new draft EU Resettlement Scheme to be made public; and what progress, if any, has been made in re-opening EU frontiers.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon

We understand the Commission are going to bring out a legislative proposal on resettlement with a Title V legal base shortly. We will consider the detail of the proposal once published.

The Schengen States agreed on 12 May that certain Schengen internal border controls in Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden and Norway can remain raised until November.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Hylton on 2016-06-13.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking in co-operation with the government of Lebanon and UN agencies to ensure that all refugee children in Lebanon receive the basic and remedial education that they need.

Baroness Verma

The UK has committed up to £40m per year to support education in Lebanon up to 2019/20 as part of our £2.3bn response to the Syria crisis. We are a key proponent of the regional No Lost Generation Initiative, and endorsed an agreement at the London Supporting Syria and the Region conference in February that all refugee and affected host community children should be in education by the end of the 2016/17 school year.

We are aligning our support behind the Government of Lebanon’s second Reaching All Children with Education Programme (RACE II), working with a range of partners to scale up quality formal and non-formal education. We have already helped expand the Lebanese education system to reach 200,000 Syrian children and are also supporting the expansion of high-quality, standardised non-formal education and training. This includes basic numeracy and literacy and catch-up learning programmes to reach the most vulnerable out of school Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian children and youth. We are also tackling barriers to school entry, protection issues and pyscho-social problems that prevent children accessing education. We also support the United Nations Relief and Works Agency to ensure Palestinian refugees have access to education and training in Lebanon.