Thangam Debbonaire – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Thangam Debbonaire on 2016-03-07.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of (a) the number of people resident in refugee camps in Northern France, (b) the proportion of such people who are unaccompanied children and (c) how many extra reception places for asylum applicants have been created by the French authorities.

James Brokenshire

The management of the migrant camps in Calais, including healthcare provision is the responsibility of the French Government.

The French Government has recently stated that there are approximately 3,700 migrants living in the Calais camp and 1,050 in Dunkirk. The UK Government does not routinely assess the numbers of migrants in northern France or hold a breakdown of the ages of migrants.

The UK has funded a project aimed at identifying and protecting vulnerable people in the Calais migrant camp. The project is being delivered by the French NGO Terre D’Asile.

In addition, France has opened 102 reflection centres away from Calais and Dunkirk to help migrants with their asylum options and the UK is contributing towards the funding of this programme.