Home Office decision to end Dubs scheme 'not backed by evidence'
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Version 0 of 1. There is a big gap between the government’s explanation for capping the number of child refugees brought to the UK and evidence provided by councils and charities, according to an influential group of MPs. The home affairs select committee is calling on the government to halt plans to limit the number of child refugees coming to the UK under the Dubs amendment to 350, and to conduct a thorough investigation into the capacity of councils to take in unaccompanied children. About 3,000 children were originally expected to come to the UK under the scheme but the home secretary, Amber Rudd, has said the cap was set far lower because councils did not have enough capacity. However, evidence given to the select committee casts doubt on how thoroughly the government had consulted councils, and suggests that as many as 4,000 extra children could be sheltered if central funding is provided. The report also says that evidence from charities and other organisations contradicts the Home Office’s assertion that the Dubs scheme would encourage people smugglers and that in fact offering a legal route to the UK has the opposite effect. Safe Passage lead organiser George Gabriel told the committee: “There can be no doubt that closing a safe and legal route results in further pressures on them [children] to enter trafficking and smuggling networks.” Yvette Cooper, who chair the committee, said: “There is a big gap between what the government has said, and the evidence we heard from local councils and from organisations like Unicef who are working with child refugees. This is too important to get wrong when children’s lives and futures are at risk. “Ministers have said that they need to end the Dubs scheme in order to prevent trafficking, but Save the Children and others have said this will make child trafficking, abuse and exploitation worse. That’s why we have called on the government to consult the expert independent anti-slavery commissioner on his assessment of the risks of more trafficking if the scheme ends – after all, it is his job to prevent the kind of abuse and slavery we are all worried about. “The government has also said local councils can only take 350 children under the Dubs scheme. But councils told us that with funding in place they could take many more. That’s why we want ministers to publish all the council offers of help they have had, and to find out how many more children they could take in the next financial year.” The report also criticised the implementation of the Dublin system, which is designed to help children with a relative in the UK apply for asylum. It quoted the UK’s anti-slavery commissioner, who said the system was “not working” for children, who were turning to illegal means to enter the country. The report’s publication follows an Observer investigation which found evidence there was far greater capacity to home child refugees than the government had admitted. Freedom of information requests revealed at least 368 extra places, with more thought to be available. A Home Office spokesman reiterated the government’s position that allowing children and other refugees to apply directly from camps in and around Syria was the best way to reduce trafficking and smuggling of people. He added: “This government provided 8,000 vulnerable children with refuge or other forms of leave this year and by the end of this parliament we will have resettled 23,000 people from Syria, the Middle East and North Africa – half of whom will be children. “But it’s not ‘job done’ when these children get to the UK – they require ongoing support and protection. That is why we welcome all offers of extra places from local authorities. These places can be used to support the unaccompanied children already being cared for in the UK and those who continue to arrive and claim asylum.” |