Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 establishes the general duty of local authorities in England to safeguard and promote the welfare of children within their area who are in need and, so far as is consistent with that duty, to promote the upbringing of such children by their families.

I can confirm that the Home Office is working with the Department for Education alongside other government departments and the NRPF network to produce guidance to assist local authorities in their duties to those with No Recourse to Public Funds as part of the Child Poverty Strategy.

The duty Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 duty does not apply to the Home Office. Instead, Section 55 of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009 places a duty on the Home Office to make arrangements for ensuring that immigration, asylum, nationality and general customs functions are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in the UK.

The statutory guidance, called ‘Every Child Matters’, issued under Section 55 (3), sets out the key arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children as they apply both generally to public bodies who deal with children in the UK (Part 1) and specifically to the Home Office (Part 2).

The police play a vital role in safeguarding children and relevant guidance materials. This includes the College of Policing's Authorised Professional Practice (APP) and the statutory guidance for safeguarding partners Working Together to Safeguard Children (2023). Furthermore, the Home Office circular 017/2008 provides guidance on the duties and powers of the police under the Children Act 1989, and the Home Office Child Exploitation Disruption Toolkit includes guidance on how and when police powers of protection of children can be used.

As outlined in these documents, the police have a power to remove a child to suitable accommodation under Section 46 of the Children Act 1989, if they have reasonable cause to believe that the child would otherwise be likely to suffer significant harm.

Where police powers are exercised, Section 46 puts an upper limit of 72 hours on the length of time a child may be kept in police protection. Once powers are exercised, officers are required to notify the relevant local authority and they should ensure the child is moved to accommodation provided by or on behalf of the local authority, or a refuge.

Police powers can help in emergency situations but should only be used were necessary, for example if is there is insufficient time for the local authority to seek an Emergency Protection Order (EPO), and decisions to remove a child from a parent or carer should be made by a court. Without use of Section 46, the police cannot change a child’s place of residence.

This Government remains firmly committed to safeguarding children from a range of harms. This includes ensuring that statutory safeguarding partners, including the police, have the right resources, tools and training to identify and respond and work together effectively.

I have continued to discuss these important issues with cross-government Ministerial colleagues and will be writing a joint letter out to safeguarding partners on this important issue, alongside ensuring relevant guidance remains up to date.

The new Centre for VAWG and Public protection will also ensure that the response by police continues to be improved, including supporting best practice in working together to ensure a robust multiagency response in supporting children.

As has long been the case. the Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide accommodation support to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute before their claim is decided and those without a valid claim can be removed. By clearing the backlog and increasing removals of those with no right to stay, we can end the use of asylum hotels.

Data on the number of asylum seekers in receipt of support, can be found within the Asy_D09 tab for our most recent stats release: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab) (opens in a new tab).

The Home Office publishes information on asylum expenditure in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts at HO annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)(opens in a new tab)(opens in a new tab).

The Home Office does not have, and therefore cannot discharge, duties under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989. It is for the local authority where an unaccompanied child is located to consider its duties under the Children’s Act 1989.

The welfare of those who are detained is taken seriously. Where a decision is made to remove an unaccompanied child under 18, detention will be for the shortest possible time. The detention powers within the Bill can only be exercised to detain an unaccompanied child in specific circumstances that will be set out in regulations.

We will build upon our current detention facilities to ensure they provide appropriate, safe and secure accommodation. This includes working closely with the Department of Education and local authorities to ensure there are proper support provisions in detention for unaccompanied children.

The Home Secretary is responsible for all people in detention, including the day-to-day care of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.

As part of our obligations under the public sector equality duty, an equality impact assessment has been completed in respect of the measures in the Nationality and Borders Bill concerning priority removal notices and evidence notices, this includes a consideration of possible impacts on children.

The Home Office does not hold data on how many Zambrano carers or families with a right to remain in the UK under Article 8 of the ECHR that have no recourse to public funds are currently leave holders in the UK. Furthermore, we do not record information on families receiving support under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989, although such information if provided would be taken into consideration for Change of Circumstances and Fee Waiver applications.

The enhanced Domestic Abuse Bill, as re-introduced on 3 March, includes a new statutory duty on tier one local authorities in England to provide support to victims of domestic abuse, and their children, within safe accommodation. This new measure augmented those already in the Bill addressing the impact of domestic abuse on children. As provided for in clause 66(2)(b), the statutory guidance which will accompany the Bill will recognise the effect of domestic abuse on children. The guidance will outline the range of impacts domestic abuse can have on children, as well as appropriate support and referral mechanisms. The Bill will also establish in law, the independent Domestic Abuse Commissioner who will be required to consider the impact of domestic abuse on children, and the services available to them.

In the Government’s further response to the Joint Committee on the Draft Domestic Abuse Bill (CP 214), also published on 3 March, we indicated that the Domestic Abuse Commissioner has agreed to undertake an in-depth exploration of the current community-based support landscape. The Government will then work with the Commissioner to understand the needs identified and develop options on how best to address them.

The Government’s further response to the Joint Committee also addressed the Committee’s recommendation that “the Government consider amending the relevant Children Act definition of harm to explicitly include the trauma caused to children by witnessing coercive control between adults in the household”. As set out in the Government’s further response, we consider that the existing definition of harm already allows for witnessing and experiencing coercive control as it includes “forms of ill treatment that are not physical” and “impairment suffered from seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another”. We have concluded that the most effective means of giving effect to the Committee’s recommendation is to amend the statutory guidance, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/working-together-to-safeguard-children--2

The Home Office does not hold information centrally on how many migrant families were supported by local authorities under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989.

The Home Office is not required to hold this information. It is for Local Authorities in England to consider where support under the Children’s Act should be provided where the parents are subject to immigration conditions that restrict access to public funds.

The Government takes its responsibilities towards children extremely seriously and works with Local Authorities to ensure all necessary checks are undertaken to ensure any child’s safety, including those children who are transferred to the UK under the Dublin III Regulation. It is for the local authority to determine what assessments to undertake based on the circumstances of individual children and families, the Home Office does not hold data on the number of children that were transferred to the UK under the Dublin Regulation who have been assessed under section 17 of the Children Act 1989.

The Home Office does not hold the figures requested. This is because as with right to work checks, the Right to Rent scheme is predicated on checks being carried out by third parties (in this case landlords and lettings agents). This means that the majority of illegal migrant prospective tenants will be denied access to the private rented sector as a result of these checks with no intervention by enforcement officers or reference to the Home Office.

An evaluation of the first six months of the scheme, published by Home Office Science in October 2015, showed there was no evidence of an increased burden on local authorities in the West Midlands. Monitoring of the effects of the Right to Rent scheme on landlords and tenants is also ongoing through the expert Landlords Consultative Panel, co-chaired by the Immigration Minister and Lord Best, an acknowledged expert in the fields of housing and planning. The Panel comprises bodies representing landlords, lettings agents, housing charities, local authorities and the Equality and Human Rights Commission amongst others. The Panel meets periodically, and communication channels outside these meetings allow for reporting by private rented sector and third sector groups of the experience of those they represent.

I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Home Department.

The Campsfield and Tinsley House immigration removal centres and the Cedars pre-departure accommodation do not carry out activities or provide services under the Children Act 1989, and do not fall to be regulated on that basis. These facilities are, however, inspected by HM Inspector of Prisons, and monitored by the Independent Monitoring Boards. In addition, the Children's Commissioner has powers of entry and inspection for the Tinsley family unit and for Cedars. A Detention Service Order on safeguarding is in place and staff are issued with details of the safeguarding policy for each facility. In addition, all staff are required to undergo Disclosure and Barring Service checks.