Immigration: Unaccompanied Children The Earl of Sandwich asked Her Majesty's Government: What has been the weekly cost per head of supporting unaccompanied young asylum seekers in the London Borough of Hillingdon over the past three years; how many were in the care of Hillingdon social services; and to what extent they were supported by central government in each of those years. [HL1523] The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Education and Skills (Lord Adonis) Data on the weekly cost per head of supporting unaccompanied young asylum seekers in individual councils are not collected centrally. The number of unaccompanied asylum seekers who were looked after by the London Borough of Hillingdon at 31 March in each of the past three years is given below: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | |2003-04|2004-05|2005-06| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |Hillingdon |235 |270 |305 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |1. Figures exclude children looked after under an agreed series of short-term placements. | | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |2. To preserve confidentiality, local authority figures have been rounded to the nearest five.| | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Local authorities, and not central government, provide support to unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, in accordance with their legal responsibilities under the Children Act 1989.