Lord Sheikh:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what support services are in place for victims of child trafficking.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead): Government guidance—Safeguarding Children who may have been trafficked (2007)—issued to supplement and to be used in conjunction with the statutory safeguarding guidance Working Together to Safeguard Children (2006) includes detailed information for local authorities about how their safeguarding responsibilities must apply to children who may have been trafficked.

Where a young person, such as, for example, an unaccompanied asylum-seeking child (UASC), presents to a local authority as having no parent or guardian in this country, then in fulfilling its duties to assess and respond to their needs, the local authority may conclude that it should accommodate the young person using its powers under the Children Act 1989. In these circumstances, the local authority will have duties to the young person as a looked-after child. Each child must have a care plan based on a thorough assessment, outlining how the local authority proposes to meet the individual child’s needs.