Question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the oral contribution of the Minister for Immigration of 7 June 2023 on Asylum-seeking Children: Hotel Accommodation, Official Report, column 407WH, if he will provide examples of (a) grey and (b) black economies.
Answer
We take the safety of those in our care seriously. We have robust safeguarding procedures in place to ensure all young people in hotels are safe and supported as we seek urgent placements with a local authority.
Young people are supported by team leaders and support workers who are on site 24 hours a day. Further care is provided in hotels by teams of social workers and nurses. All contingency sites have security staff on site 24/7 and providers liaise closely with local police to ensure the welfare and safety of vulnerable residents.
As of 05 June, there were 154 young people missing.
If any child goes missing, including an accompanied asylum seeking child, the MARS (Missing After Reasonable Steps) protocol is followed. A multi-agency, missing persons meeting is chaired by the local authority to establish the young person's whereabouts and to ensure that they are safe. Similar protocols within police forces have safely reduced the number of missing episodes from placements by 36%.
The Home Office continue to work with the police and local authorities to ensure the children in our care are safe. The police are responsible for locating any missing children.
The Grey economy includes any economic activity that is legal, but which is unrecorded and unregulated. The Black economy consists of the buying, selling, and producing of goods or services that goes on without the government being informed, so that people can avoid paying tax on them.