Asylum: Children

Mr. Randall
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans she has to bring forward proposals to amend the Leaving Care Act 2000 to allow unaccompanied asylum-seeking children to return to their country of origin.

Mr. Woolas
None; the Children Act 1989 as amended by the Children (Leaving Care) Act 2000 has no effect on the return of unaccompanied asylum seeking children to their countries of origin.

Mr. Randall
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what progress her Department is making in relation to special authority status for local authorities who are dealing with unaccompanied asylum seeking children.

Mr. Woolas
The UK Border Agency will shortly be seeking proposals from local authorities, or groups of local authorities, setting out the numbers of unaccompanied asylum seeking children they could accommodate, and at what cost.