LGA responds to Government's statement on Dubs amendment resettlement figures

9 Feb 2017 10:01 AM

Cllr David Simmonds, Chairman of the LGA's Asylum, Refugee and Migration Task Group, responds to the Government's announcement on the number of unaccompanied asylum seeking and refugee children resettled under the Dubs amendment.

"Councils demonstrated tremendous leadership at a local, regional and national level in resettling the children from the Calais camp.

"Each child received an individual package of care, with councils ensuring that the children settled into their new communities as quickly and easily as possible. Large numbers of children also experienced horrendous conditions in their country of origin or during their journey and councils worked with local partners to ensure ongoing health and care support was made available as and when they needed it.

"We have long urged government to put in place long-term funding arrangements to ensure that the commitment to support those children starting a new life in the UK is properly funded. It is vital that schemes for unaccompanied children are fully aligned, and funded, alongside other existing programmes for resettling refugees, ensuring that councils are able to properly support these vulnerable children while continuing to provide vital services for their local community.

"Councils have a strong track record of supporting children travelling alone. The number of unaccompanied asylum seeking children living in England increased by more than 50 per cent to over 4,000 in the last year, and the vast majority of councils are already providing care and support for these vulnerable children and young people."

The full statement can be found here: http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2017-02-08/HCWS467/