Rupa Huq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rupa Huq on 2016-10-11.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied children the UK has accepted from the Jungle near Calais; and what estimate the Government has made of the number of such children the UK will take as a consequence of the Dubs amendment.

Mr Robert Goodwill

Between 1 January and 1 October 2016 over 80 children from France were accepted for transfer under the Dublin Regulation on the basis of close family links, of which nearly all have arrived in the UK.

On 10 October, the Home Secretary met with French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve to discuss a range of issues, including the proposed clearance of the camp in Calais.

The UK Government has made clear its commitment to transfer from Europe to the UK unaccompanied refugee children under the 2016 Immigration Act, and ensure those with close links to the UK are brought here using the Dublin Regulation, where it is in their best interests. Home Office teams are being deployed to France over the coming weeks to work with the French authorities to speed up the identification and transfer of eligible cases. We continue to work with the French authorities to establish the number of children who may be eligible.