Commercial road vehicles in use on UK roads are expected to meet roadworthiness standards, be suitably loaded and have their drivers’ hours controlled to ensure road safety standards are maintained. We will continue to enforce these standards in a non-discriminatory way with regard to UK/non-UK operators and expect that European Union Member States will continue to act in a similar manner. Discussions are continuing towards a future UK/EU free trade agreement, including international commercial road transport.

Commercial road vehicles in use on UK roads are expected to meet roadworthiness standards, be suitably loaded and have their drivers’ hours controlled to ensure road safety standards are maintained. We will continue to enforce these standards in a non-discriminatory way with regard to UK/non-UK operators and expect that European Union Member States will continue to act in a similar manner. Discussions are continuing towards a future UK/EU free trade agreement, including international commercial road transport.

Commercial road vehicles in use on UK roads are expected to meet roadworthiness standards, be suitably loaded and have their drivers’ hours controlled to ensure road safety standards are maintained. We will continue to enforce these standards in a non-discriminatory way with regard to UK/non-UK operators and expect that European Union Member States will continue to act in a similar manner. Discussions are continuing towards a future UK/EU free trade agreement, including international commercial road transport.

The rights of children granted refugee status in the UK are unchanged when we leave the EU. The UK will continue to be bound by the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights and will continue to provide protection to all those who need it, including children, in accordance with our international obligations.

In respect of Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking children, Section 17 of the Withdrawal Act requires the Government to seek a reciprocal agreement with the EU to establish a mechanism to transfer children to the UK to reunite with family members.

If Parliament accepts the Withdrawal Agreement, the existing provisions in respect of the Common European Asylum System will continue to apply in the transition period. In the event of a no deal, the Government has introduced a ‘No Deal’ Statutory Instrument – The Immigration, Nationality and Asylum (EU Exit) Regulations 2019.

The Government recognises the challenges facing organisations across the UK economy to be compliant with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

The Information Commissioner’s Office has published a range of user-friendly material on the GDPR on its website. It has also set up a dedicated phone line for small organisations and charities. Details can be viewed at: https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/advice-service-for-small-organisations/.

The ICO will continue to provide support for organisations on the new laws.

In 2016, we transferred over 900 unaccompanied children to the UK from Europe, including more than 750 from France. Approximately 200 of these children met the criteria for section 67 of the Immigration Act.

Based on the assessments undertaken by Home Office teams working in France, these cases were not eligible for transfer to the UK under the Dublin Regulation.

Transfers under the Dublin Regulation will not form part of the overall number to be transferred under section 67 of the Immigration Act.

Approximately 200 of the children brought over from France as part of the Calais camp clearance were transferred as a result of them meeting the criteria for section 67 of the Immigration Act.

The UK continues to work closely with the French authorities to ensure eligible children under the Dublin Regulation and section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 are transferred to the UK as soon as possible. Since 10 October we have transferred over 300 children, and as the Home Secretary told Parliament last month, we expect several hundred more children will be brought to the UK in the coming days and weeks. Prior to the camp clearance operation the Government focused on transferring those children with close family links to the UK under the Dublin Regulation and transferred over 80 asylum seeking children from France since the beginning of the year. Since the clearance operation was announced and upon agreement with the French, the Government has worked at pace to process the children who are eligible for transfer to the UK. We continue to work closely with the French to ensure those children who were in the camp at the time of the clearance operation are interviewed to assess their eligibility to be transferred to the UK. We also must ensure that the proper safeguarding, age assessment and security checks are carried out, and that it is in each child’s best interests to come to the UK. All unaccompanied asylum seeking children who have been brought to the UK are entitled to legal advice supported by legal aid. The Home Office is continuously monitoring its response to the migrant situation in France.

The Government is not aware of any published data on the time taken to make a decision on Member State responsibility for asylum claims under the Dublin Regulation.

However, the Dublin Regulation specifies a range of time limits within which requests to accept responsibility must be made and replies received. The Dublin Regulation states that in all cases requests should be made as quickly as possible. The time limits vary depending on the circumstances of the case.

We will always fully consider take charge requests from other EU Member States under the Dublin Regulation, and we have made significant progress in improving and speeding up the existing process since the beginning of the year. Ahead of the Calais camp clearance, transfer requests were processed within 10 days and children are transferred within weeks from France.

All children transferred here under the Dublin Regulation or under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016 will be expected to make an asylum claim in the UK, which will be considered according to normal processes. We aim to decide 98 per cent of straightforward asylum claims within six months. Where a child does not qualify for asylum and it is clear that safe and adequate reception arrangements are not available in their home country, they will be granted leave to remain under the Immigration Rules for 30 months or until they reach the age of 17 and a half, whichever is shorter.

The Government already has a comprehensive approach to safeguarding children, including refugee children. We recognise that the number of unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children arriving in the UK has risen over the last few years, including through the transfer of hundreds of children from Calais. That is why the Written Ministerial Statement (HLWS231) made on 1 November by my noble friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the School System committed to the publication, by 1 May 2017, of a strategy setting out further detail on how these children will be safeguarded and their welfare promoted.

This strategy will compliment and build on existing safeguarding guidance and procedures. We have already been working with local authorities, charities and other organisations to make sure plans are in place to give these children the support they need.

We will be working with the relevant agencies to develop this further over the coming months. In line with the legislation we will in due course specify the number of unaccompanied refugee children to be transferred to the UK under section 67 of the Immigration Act 2016.

I certainly pay tribute—it is a very good week to be remembering the Aberfan disaster of some 50 years ago. We do not forget these children but we have obligations and processes that we must follow, relating to other laws and child safeguarding, in order to place those children in the appropriate situation for their safety and their future.

The Government is considering the impacts of the decision to leave the EU, including future arrangements for existing legislation. Until we leave the EU, EU law continues to apply, so we continue to comply with the requirements relating to traffic.

Whilst the Home Office does publish information on decision timeliness the way the data is recorded means that it would require manual interrogation of the main immigration database to calculate the average decision time for cases transferred under Dublin III. This data cannot be provided for reasons of disproportionate cost

Data on cases progressed under the Dublin III Regulation is recorded on the main immigration database.

However, this data is not held in a way that allows it to be reported on automatically and is therefore not currently available.

Whilst all asylum claims, including those accepted under Dublin III, are registered on the main immigration database the specifics of each case including the route of travel and possible stay in the camps in Calais and Dunkirk can only be ascertained by a manual check of the notes on the immigration database and a physical check of the paper file.

It will therefore not be possible to answer this question for reasons of disproportionate cost.

The case for seconding UK experts to the Interior Ministry’s Dublin Unit is under review.

Data on cases progressed under the Dublin III Regulation is recorded on the main immigration database. However, this data is not held in a way that allows it to be reported on automatically and is not currently available.

Data on cases progressed under the Dublin III Regulation is recorded on the main immigration database. However, this data is not held in a way that allows it to be reported on automatically and is therefore not currently available.

The UK-France Joint Declaration of 20 August 2015 committed the two governments to establishing a permanent official contact group focussed on ensuring that the provisions of the Dublin III Regulation are used efficiently and effectively, including the provisions on family unity.

As a result a Home Office official has recently been seconded to the Interior Ministry’s Dublin Unit in Paris in part to assist with the identification of potential requests for the UK to take charge of an asylum seeking child in France and to bring them into the Dublin Regulation procedure without delay.

The Secretary of State for the Home Department’s (SSHD) rationale for appealing the judgment is that the Tribunal erred in law in making its decision. The Tribunal accepted that the issues in dispute in the case should be considered by the Court of Appeal and so granted the SSHD permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal on 29th January 2016.