Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office staff and our embassy teams have been working around the clock to support British nationals and their families, and to lead the humanitarian response to the devastating floods, including over the weekend and bank holiday. The UK is working with the Nepalese and Chinese authorities to support their crisis response efforts on the ground. The UK acted on information provided in relation to missing individuals as soon as practicable and shared relevant details with the appropriate authorities. Police Family Liaison Officers have been deployed to support individual families, including on any information that could help efforts to locate the missing. Family Liaison Officers are available to discuss the utility or otherwise of mobile phones given the impact on the physical infrastructure and communications in the area. The information picture is changing continuously as Nepalese search and rescue teams work in the affected areas, and UK staff are in close contact with the authorities to understand the latest situation.

The Moroccan authorities hold primacy for the investigation into the disappearance of Inaayah Makda, and any request from the Moroccan authorities for assistance from UK law enforcement agencies will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

While the Home Secretary has not had discussions with representatives of the Moroccan authorities, consular assistance continues to be provided by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

The Government has been assured by the Moroccan authorities that all leads, and any new leads, will be followed up appropriately.

We are deeply concerned about the situation facing Christian communities in Yemen, particularly in areas under Houthi control, where reports indicate that minorities cannot practise their faith freely, and routinely face harassment and discrimination.

We raise these concerns regularly with international partners, including at the UN Security Council and Human Rights Council, and continue to press for respect for human rights and accountability for violations. The UK condemns all forms of persecution based on religion or belief and will continue to advocate for the protection of Christians and other minorities in Yemen. More broadly, the UK will continue to use its diplomatic influence and humanitarian support to try and protect all civilians in Yemen, and press for an inclusive peace process under UN auspices.

I refer the Hon Member to the response provided on 3 June to Question 4531 about the NAHA directives, and also to the speech and accompanying statement made by the Foreign Secretary to the UN Security Council about the UN Fact-Finding Mission on 19 February, links to which can be found below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/foreign-secretarys-statement-on-the-un-fact-finding-mission-report-on-el-fasher

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/let-this-be-the-time-that-the-world-comes-together-to-end-the-cycle-of-bloodshed-in-sudan-uk-statement-at-the-un-security-council

This Government remains firmly committed to working across government and with safeguarding partners, including the police and voluntary sector, to ensure a robust response to when people go missing anywhere across the country. This includes ensuring that their families receive the best possible protection and support.

I am reassured that the police, working with other safeguarding partners, are driving forward robust action to ensure best practice approaches are taken to prevent missing incidents, provide immediate response when children go missing, and address the underlying harms that lead to these situations.

This includes working in line with the Missing Persons Authorised Professional Practice (APP), issued by the College of Policing, which sets out best practice for all missing person investigations for police forces in England and Wales in order to prevent missing incidents as well as ensure that all safeguarding partners play a role in an investigation. Provisions being implemented from the Children Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, including requiring all local safeguarding partners to establish multi-agency child protection teams, will be another crucial step towards a more joined-up approach to protecting all children from harm, including those who go missing across the UK. The new National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection will also improve the response to missing children by developing best practices and delivering training to officers across a range of vulnerabilities.

This work is aimed at driving improvements in the response to people going missing across all areas of the country, including Devon.

The government takes the issue of any child going missing, either from home or from local authority care, extremely seriously. An unaccompanied child is entitled to the same support as any other looked after child, regardless of their immigration status.

We expect local authorities and their safeguarding partners to work together to reduce the chances of children going missing, to respond effectively when they do, and understand why. We have provided clear guidance about responsibilities towards all children who go missing. This includes the appropriate response from the relevant police force and expectations for the settings where children live, to ensure children have access to the services they need.

Measures from the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and Crime and Policing Bill, reforms being delivered through the Families First Partnership Programme (supported by £2.4 billion), updates to the ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ statutory guidance and oversight from the Keeping Children Safe ministerial board will ensure that we better respond when children go missing and intervene earlier to tackle the problems children and their families face.

The government takes the issue of any child going missing, from home or care, extremely seriously and has provided clear guidance about responsibilities for all children who go missing. When a child is found, they must be offered an independent Return Home Interview and local authorities, police and voluntary services should also work together to understand why the child went missing and what support they may need, including with their mental health, in the future to prevent them from going missing again.

The department has announced a £7 million funding boost to early support hubs across England providing drop-in mental health support for young people aged 11 to 25. Alongside this, we are investing an extra £688 million in mental health services this year and are recruiting 8,500 additional mental health workers across children’s and adult services.

Measures from the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and Crime and Policing Bill, reforms being delivered through the Families First Partnership Programme, supported by £2.4 billion, updates to the Working Together to Safeguard Children statutory guidance, and oversight from the Keeping Children Safe ministerial board will ensure that we better respond when children go missing and intervene earlier to tackle the underlying drivers.

Measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill aim to put an end to misconceptions about legal barriers to sharing information, through introducing an Information Sharing Duty and making provision for a Single Unique Identifier to improve information sharing between agencies.

The government takes the issue of any child going missing, from home or care, extremely seriously and has provided clear guidance about responsibilities for all children who go missing. When a child is found, they must be offered an independent Return Home Interview and local authorities, police and voluntary services should also work together to understand why the child went missing and what support they may need, including with their mental health, in the future to prevent them from going missing again.

The department has announced a £7 million funding boost to early support hubs across England providing drop-in mental health support for young people aged 11 to 25. Alongside this, we are investing an extra £688 million in mental health services this year and are recruiting 8,500 additional mental health workers across children’s and adult services.

Measures from the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and Crime and Policing Bill, reforms being delivered through the Families First Partnership Programme, supported by £2.4 billion, updates to the Working Together to Safeguard Children statutory guidance, and oversight from the Keeping Children Safe ministerial board will ensure that we better respond when children go missing and intervene earlier to tackle the underlying drivers.

Measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill aim to put an end to misconceptions about legal barriers to sharing information, through introducing an Information Sharing Duty and making provision for a Single Unique Identifier to improve information sharing between agencies.

The government takes the issue of any child going missing, from home or care, extremely seriously and has provided clear guidance about responsibilities for all children who go missing. When a child is found, they must be offered an independent Return Home Interview and local authorities, police and voluntary services should also work together to understand why the child went missing and what support they may need, including with their mental health, in the future to prevent them from going missing again.

The department has announced a £7 million funding boost to early support hubs across England providing drop-in mental health support for young people aged 11 to 25. Alongside this, we are investing an extra £688 million in mental health services this year and are recruiting 8,500 additional mental health workers across children’s and adult services.

Measures from the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and Crime and Policing Bill, reforms being delivered through the Families First Partnership Programme, supported by £2.4 billion, updates to the Working Together to Safeguard Children statutory guidance, and oversight from the Keeping Children Safe ministerial board will ensure that we better respond when children go missing and intervene earlier to tackle the underlying drivers.

Measures in the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill aim to put an end to misconceptions about legal barriers to sharing information, through introducing an Information Sharing Duty and making provision for a Single Unique Identifier to improve information sharing between agencies.

We recognise that missing episodes, especially repeat missing episodes, however brief, can often be a red flag for a number of harms including child sexual exploitation and criminal exploitation.

Each missing child case represents a vulnerable young person at risk, often with complex underlying causes that need to be understood and addressed. We are working to support the NPCC and its rollout of its ‘Children who go Missing from Care’ Framework as another vital tool when tackling head-on the underlying vulnerabilities in children that often lead to missing episodes and further strengthening frontline response.

In addition, the new National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection (NCVPP) launched in April 2025 to improve the response to violence against women and girls and child sexual abuse. The Home Office has already invested £13.1 million into the Centre in 2025-25 and will provide a further £13.9m funding this financial year. The NCVPP will improve the response to missing children by driving up standards; developing best practices and delivering training to officers across a range of vulnerabilities.

We will continue to work closely across Government Departments, with the police and other safeguarding partners, to improve the whole system response to missing children.

We recognise that missing episodes, especially repeat missing episodes, however brief, can often be a red flag for a number of harms including child sexual exploitation and criminal exploitation.

Each missing child case represents a vulnerable young person at risk, often with complex underlying causes that need to be understood and addressed. We are working to support the NPCC and its rollout of its ‘Children who go Missing from Care’ Framework as another vital tool when tackling head-on the underlying vulnerabilities in children that often lead to missing episodes and further strengthening frontline response.

In addition, the new National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection (NCVPP) launched in April 2025 to improve the response to violence against women and girls and child sexual abuse. The Home Office has already invested £13.1 million into the Centre in 2025-25 and will provide a further £13.9m funding this financial year. The NCVPP will improve the response to missing children by driving up standards; developing best practices and delivering training to officers across a range of vulnerabilities.

We will continue to work closely across Government Departments, with the police and other safeguarding partners, to improve the whole system response to missing children.

The Department does not hold a national figure for the number of people reported missing from hospitals or other healthcare settings in 2024/25 or in 2025/26.

Clear guidance is in place to support hospitals, other healthcare settings, and staff in preventing and responding to incidents where patients go missing. This includes the National Partnership Agreement: Right Care, Right Person, published in 2023, which sets out how health services, local authorities, and the police should work together to ensure people with mental health needs receive the right support from the right service. The agreement makes clear that patient safety must be protected and that inappropriate police involvement should be avoided, including in situations involving missing patients or people leaving healthcare settings before treatment is complete.

Further guidance published by NHS England supports local commissioners and providers to put practical arrangements in place. This covers steps to reduce the risk of patients leaving care unexpectedly, action to take when someone does leave, and arrangements to locate and safely return patients from mental health inpatient settings, including where individuals are detained under the Mental Health Act, was admitted under the Mental Capacity Act, or is in hospital voluntarily.

The Department does not hold a national figure for the number of people reported missing from hospitals or other healthcare settings in 2024/25 or in 2025/26.

Clear guidance is in place to support hospitals, other healthcare settings, and staff in preventing and responding to incidents where patients go missing. This includes the National Partnership Agreement: Right Care, Right Person, published in 2023, which sets out how health services, local authorities, and the police should work together to ensure people with mental health needs receive the right support from the right service. The agreement makes clear that patient safety must be protected and that inappropriate police involvement should be avoided, including in situations involving missing patients or people leaving healthcare settings before treatment is complete.

Further guidance published by NHS England supports local commissioners and providers to put practical arrangements in place. This covers steps to reduce the risk of patients leaving care unexpectedly, action to take when someone does leave, and arrangements to locate and safely return patients from mental health inpatient settings, including where individuals are detained under the Mental Health Act, was admitted under the Mental Capacity Act, or is in hospital voluntarily.

The Government is committed to working to ensure that children and young people are kept safe from harm, including when they are reported missing. This includes working to ensure that police forces are equipped to respond appropriately and working effectively with other multiagency safeguarding partners.

I recognise the concerns previously raised about unconscious bias in the police response to missing persons from BAME communities. Following NPCC research to explore disproportionality and discrimination in police missing persons investigations, forces across England and Wales continue to improve practice and responses to address this. The report can be found here:

Disproportion and decision: Ethnic minority overrepresentation and police risk assessment in missing persons cases

We will continue to work across government and with partners to ensure an effective whole-system response when someone goes missing, while also working to address the underlying harms that lead to these complex situations.

The government takes the issue of any child going missing, from home or care, extremely seriously. Local safeguarding partners should work together to reduce the chances of children going missing and respond effectively when they do. The department has provided statutory guidance about responsibilities for children who go missing. Our ‘Working together to safeguard children’ statutory guidance sets out the importance of sharing information and that practitioners should be alert to those who frequently go missing.

The latest relevant publication covers 2021 to 2025 and is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions/2025 (data for earlier years is in previous releases, changes in the way data is reported means comparisons over time should not be made). In 2025, 86,900 missing incidents were reported for 12,720 looked after children (11%), an average (mean) of 6.8 missing incidents per child who went missing. Most (91%) missing incidents lasted for two days or less.

The department also published ad hoc statistics, which indicated that going or being missing may be a co-occurring factor for some children who have experienced sexual exploitation. Just over a third (34%) of children assessed as having been affected by sexual exploitation were also assessed as at risk of going missing.

The department is working to reduce the number of children who go missing. Measures from the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and Crime and Policing Bill, reforms being delivered through the Families First Partnership Programme (supported by £2.4 billion), updates to the ‘Working together to safeguard children’ statutory guidance, and oversight from the Keeping Children Safe ministerial board will ensure that we better respond when children go missing and intervene earlier to tackle the underlying drivers.

Officials engage with stakeholders, including Missing. A senior civil servant from the department attended the recent All-Party Parliamentary Group for Missing Children and Adults interactive parliamentary session.

The government takes the issue of any child going missing, from home or care, extremely seriously. Local safeguarding partners should work together to reduce the chances of children going missing and respond effectively when they do. The department has provided statutory guidance about responsibilities for children who go missing. Our ‘Working together to safeguard children’ statutory guidance sets out the importance of sharing information and that practitioners should be alert to those who frequently go missing.

The latest relevant publication covers 2021 to 2025 and is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions/2025 (data for earlier years is in previous releases, changes in the way data is reported means comparisons over time should not be made). In 2025, 86,900 missing incidents were reported for 12,720 looked after children (11%), an average (mean) of 6.8 missing incidents per child who went missing. Most (91%) missing incidents lasted for two days or less.

The department also published ad hoc statistics, which indicated that going or being missing may be a co-occurring factor for some children who have experienced sexual exploitation. Just over a third (34%) of children assessed as having been affected by sexual exploitation were also assessed as at risk of going missing.

The department is working to reduce the number of children who go missing. Measures from the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and Crime and Policing Bill, reforms being delivered through the Families First Partnership Programme (supported by £2.4 billion), updates to the ‘Working together to safeguard children’ statutory guidance, and oversight from the Keeping Children Safe ministerial board will ensure that we better respond when children go missing and intervene earlier to tackle the underlying drivers.

Officials engage with stakeholders, including Missing. A senior civil servant from the department attended the recent All-Party Parliamentary Group for Missing Children and Adults interactive parliamentary session.

The government takes the issue of any child going missing, from home or care, extremely seriously. Local safeguarding partners should work together to reduce the chances of children going missing and respond effectively when they do. The department has provided statutory guidance about responsibilities for children who go missing. Our ‘Working together to safeguard children’ statutory guidance sets out the importance of sharing information and that practitioners should be alert to those who frequently go missing.

The latest relevant publication covers 2021 to 2025 and is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions/2025 (data for earlier years is in previous releases, changes in the way data is reported means comparisons over time should not be made). In 2025, 86,900 missing incidents were reported for 12,720 looked after children (11%), an average (mean) of 6.8 missing incidents per child who went missing. Most (91%) missing incidents lasted for two days or less.

The department also published ad hoc statistics, which indicated that going or being missing may be a co-occurring factor for some children who have experienced sexual exploitation. Just over a third (34%) of children assessed as having been affected by sexual exploitation were also assessed as at risk of going missing.

The department is working to reduce the number of children who go missing. Measures from the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and Crime and Policing Bill, reforms being delivered through the Families First Partnership Programme (supported by £2.4 billion), updates to the ‘Working together to safeguard children’ statutory guidance, and oversight from the Keeping Children Safe ministerial board will ensure that we better respond when children go missing and intervene earlier to tackle the underlying drivers.

Officials engage with stakeholders, including Missing. A senior civil servant from the department attended the recent All-Party Parliamentary Group for Missing Children and Adults interactive parliamentary session.

The government takes the issue of any child going missing, from home or care, extremely seriously. Local safeguarding partners should work together to reduce the chances of children going missing and respond effectively when they do. The department has provided statutory guidance about responsibilities for children who go missing. Our ‘Working together to safeguard children’ statutory guidance sets out the importance of sharing information and that practitioners should be alert to those who frequently go missing.

The latest relevant publication covers 2021 to 2025 and is available here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/children-looked-after-in-england-including-adoptions/2025 (data for earlier years is in previous releases, changes in the way data is reported means comparisons over time should not be made). In 2025, 86,900 missing incidents were reported for 12,720 looked after children (11%), an average (mean) of 6.8 missing incidents per child who went missing. Most (91%) missing incidents lasted for two days or less.

The department also published ad hoc statistics, which indicated that going or being missing may be a co-occurring factor for some children who have experienced sexual exploitation. Just over a third (34%) of children assessed as having been affected by sexual exploitation were also assessed as at risk of going missing.

The department is working to reduce the number of children who go missing. Measures from the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and Crime and Policing Bill, reforms being delivered through the Families First Partnership Programme (supported by £2.4 billion), updates to the ‘Working together to safeguard children’ statutory guidance, and oversight from the Keeping Children Safe ministerial board will ensure that we better respond when children go missing and intervene earlier to tackle the underlying drivers.

Officials engage with stakeholders, including Missing. A senior civil servant from the department attended the recent All-Party Parliamentary Group for Missing Children and Adults interactive parliamentary session.