Children suffer so much in war and I want us to do everything we can to help. That’s why I visited The Jungle in Calais and a refugee camp in Turkey to see the conditions myself.
But our experience in Kent - where the County Council is responsible for around 1000 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children - shows what a complicated and delicate situation this is. Despite increases in funding, children’s services are struggling to cope; there are not enough foster homes, and too few other local authorities have stepped forward with offers of help. There are also the needs of local people to consider. We need affordable housing, healthcare and school places for children here in Kent. Swale Borough Council has stepped up and resettled a refugee family, even though it is under pressure. I think it's right that the Home Office is working closely with local authorities to make sure the right support is in place to give refugee children a proper welcome.
The Dubs scheme is not closed. The Home Office is legally required to consult local authorities about how many children they have capacity to look after. On the basis of that consultation, the Government has announced that 350 children will come to Britain from Europe under the Dubs scheme. While this may sound like a small number, and some people would like us to take many more, the reality is that behind the numbers there are children who need to be cared for. What we must not do is invite children to Britain and then let them down.
I strongly encourage people reading this who want to do more to help to visit https://www.gov.uk/helprefugees, which has lots of information about ways to help. It has details of how to make donations locally, volunteer your time and give to charities involved in supporting refugees. It also includes information on the Community Sponsorship Scheme which enables individuals, community and faith groups to directly sponsor refugee families. Kent badly needs more foster parents too, you can find out how you can give a refugee child a home at http://www.kent.gov.uk/education-and-children/adoption-and-fostering.
The Dubs scheme is not the only way in which Britain supports child refugees. All unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who come to the UK are taken into local authority care - many of these children arrive in Kent because it is near the border with France. Child refugees who have close family in Britain have a right to come to this country to be reunited with them. In the year ending September 2016, Britain granted asylum or permission to remain in Britain to more than 8,000 children.
There is also the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme, which is resettling 20,000 refugees from camps surrounding the region; about half of the 4,400 individuals who have come to Britain so far under this programme are children. In addition there is a separate scheme to resettle a further 3,000 of the most vulnerable children and families from the region. Taking children directly from refugee camps in the Middle East deters them from making dangerous journeys to Europe and avoids supporting business model of people traffickers.
The Government has committed £2.3 billion in aid in response to the war in Syria. No other country apart from the USA has contributed more financially to the humanitarian effort since 2012. The vast majority of people displaced by the war in Syria - particularly those who are most vulnerable - have remained in the region, so it makes sense to direct our resources to where they can do the most good.