Most unaccompanied asylum-seeking children still missing from hotels, says minister
Most of the unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who went missing on the Government’s watch, and are still missing, are now 18, a Home Office minister has said.
Lord Sharpe of Epsom told peers in Westminster that, of the 111 children still missing, all are male and 98 are now over the age of 18.
Just 13 of those who went missing are still children.
The Government confirmed in January 2023 that there had been 440 missing occurrences of unaccompanied, asylum-seeking children from Home Office hotels since July 2021, less than half of whom (200) were still missing.
The number still missing has been halved again, but many have now been missing for several years and most are now adults, their whereabouts unknown.
Lord Sharpe (pictured) told the House of Lords: “Those numbers are 111, they are all male, and 98 have reached the age of 18. There are 13 left who are under the age of 18.”
The Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Rev Alan Smith, emphasised the need to properly care for unaccompanied asylum seeking children.
He said: “What are we doing to ensure that unaccompanied, asylum-seeking children arriving now and in the future are properly cared for and protected?
“We urgently need robust safeguards and clarity on where responsibility for these children lies.”
He added that he wanted to stress the “importance of protecting these vulnerable children from danger or exploitation while they’re here, however long they are here for, regardless of their immigration status”.
Meanwhile, the minister laid out the details of the asylum claims backlog.
He said that the “legacy backlog” – those lodged before the Nationality and Borders Act came into force on June 28 2022 – was cleared by the end of 2023.
This was achieved by increasing the number of caseworkers, which currently stands at 2,545, and through streamlined processes.
The Government is now prioritising the processing of claims made between June 28 2022 and March 7 2023, the day the Illegal Migration Bill was announced.
As of April 14 this year, there were 7,358 claims made during this period that had yet to be processed, what the minister called the “flow backlog”.
Next, there is the cohort of claims for those who arrived in the UK between March 7 and July 20 2023, when the Illegal Migration Act became law.
As of April 14, there are 21,313 claims outstanding for the people who arrived between these two dates.
The Illegal Migration act prevents people who arrived between March 7 and July 20 2023, who meet the conditions for removal, from ever being given legal permission to enter, stay or settle in the UK or becoming a British citizen.
Lord Sharpe told peers: “Further information will be published on our plans to decide these cases in the coming weeks and I’m afraid there is no more I can say on this at that point.”
However, the duty on the Home Secretary to remove people who arrive illegally only applies to those who arrived on or after July 20.
As of April 14, there were 51,925 outstanding asylum claims made after July 20, many of which will be deemed inadmissible under the new rules.
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