Parliamentary Search

Written question asked by Baroness Teather (Liberal Democrat) on Tuesday, 3 February 2015, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 5 February 2015. It was answered by James Brokenshire (Conservative) on Wednesday, 11 February 2015 on behalf of the Home Office.

Asylum: Children

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied asylum-seeking children granted discretionary leave to remain were subject to an enforced removal after turning 18 in each of the last five years.

Answer

The Home Office does not return Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) whose claims have been refused, unless adequate reception arrangements are in place in the country to which the child is to be returned. If adequate
reception arrangements are absent, most unaccompanied children are granted UASC Leave (formally known as UASC discretionary leave) which usually lasts until their 18th birthday.

When a child passes the age of 18 and UASC Leave expires, they are no longer considered to be a UASC and are therefore required to take steps to voluntarily return or seek further leave to remain. If the individual does not seek to
regularise their stay through further applications or leave is not granted they may be removed in accordance with the Immigration Rules and Published Home Office policy should they fail to leave voluntarily.The table below outlines the number of individuals removed in each of the last five years who had previously been granted discretionary leave to remain as an unaccompanied asylum-seeking child but has since passed the age of 18 and had
not regularised their leave or left the UK voluntarily.

Year

Total

2009

3

2010

43

2011

119

2012

57

2013

88

2014

40

Grand Total

350

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
223221
Session
2014-15
Subjects
Children Asylum Deportation
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk