Yvette Cooper – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Yvette Cooper on 2016-06-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of minors in Calais who are eligible to claim asylum in the UK under the Dublin III arrangements for family reunion.

James Brokenshire

A project to identify and protect vulnerable people in the camps in Calais is being delivered by a French non-government organistation, France Terre D’Asile (FDTA). FDTA finds potential victims of trafficking and exploitation (including children), and directs them to existing protection, support and advice within France. The managment of asylum claims and the protection of children in Calais is primarily a matter for the French authorities but the UK has contributed £530,000 towards the costs of this project, which launched formally in December 2015.

The FDTA has carried out a survey of children in the camps in the Calais area, which indentified, within the scope of the survey, 43 children with claimed family links to the UK. We are working closely with the French Goverment, UNHCR and FDTA to ensure that where family links are established, transfers take place efficiently under the Dublin Regulation.