Asylum child care plan under fire

The asylum children plans have sparked controversy

Plans to take the children of failed asylum seekers into care could force families into hiding, warn MPs.

The move could result from government proposals to strip failed asylum seekers of their benefits unless they take a free flight home.

To stop the children of such families becoming destitute, the Home Office says they would be taken into care.

The Commons home affairs committee backs the principle behind the plan but is worried the proposal is flawed.

'Poor incentive'

The MPs argue the measures should not come into effect until Parliament is satisfied that it will not lead to "significant numbers" of children being taken into care.

"It may well have the effect of driving failed asylum seekers underground and actually making it harder to remove them," says their report, published on Tuesday.

"For some families, it will introduce an incentive for them to do so while leaving their children in the care of local authorities at public expense."

Rather than remove essential legal safeguards the government should concentrate on getting decisions right first time Maeve Sherlock Refugee Council

The committee also says the measure could prompt a string of legal challenges if children are separated from their parents.

And it says ministers should have to report to Parliament once a year on how many families have lost benefits under the measure and the number of children taken into care.

Committee chairman John Denham said: "The principles are fine, what they have got to show is that it will work in practice."

Benefits costs

The MPs are also promoting a "vigorous" policy of compulsory removals when asylum seekers' claims fail.

They brand as "unacceptably low" the 1,500 failed asylum seekers that are sent home each month.

In her evidence to the MPs, Home Office Minister Beverley Hughes said forcing families to go back to their home countries was "extremely expensive".

Families will choose returning home over splitting up, say ministers

The average asylum seeking family gets more than £16,000-a-year tax free in benefits, she said.

Ms Hughes told BBC Radio 4's Today programme the plans were not about taking children into care.

"As far as I'm concerned, no, if any, children will be taken into care...," she said.

"I'm convinced that even the most reluctant parents will want to stay with their children and be returned home as a family unit at our expense."

Flight documents

Under the planned new legislation, passengers destroying their travel documents on their way to the UK without good excuse could face up to two years in jail.

The MPs say potential asylum seekers should be made aware of the measure before they try to reach the UK.

And it should be made clear that asylum seekers who had genuinely lost their travel documents would not be hit by the measure.

The committee also appeals for immigration officers to be sent to meet passengers from certain flights in an effort to discourage criminals helping asylum seekers.

And it says schemes used at Heathrow to photograph arrival passengers should be used elsewhere.

Decision 'flaws'

The government also plans to allow appeals to only one body, instead of the current three, in an effort to curb delays.

That idea wins the MPs' support but they say the "real flaws" are in the Home Office's initial decisions.

The plan should only be put into action if there is a "significant improvement" in those initial decisions, it argues.

Responding to the report, the government has proposed "new safeguards" on taking asylum children into care.

Ministers would have to authorise for any child to be kept longer than 28 days, said a Home Office spokeswoman said.

And a senior Home Office official would also have to supervise all children in immigration detention to avoid red tape extending the stay in care.

Reform call

Ms Hughes said she was determined to drive up the quality of initial asylum decisions, but that new appeals process should not be delayed.

Shadow home secretary David Davis said the MPs were right that decision-making, not just appeals, had to be speeded up.

"The removals process must also be reformed - it is unacceptable that under Labour asylum seekers have a 99% chance of remaining in this country," he said.

Maeve Sherlock, Chief Executive of the Refugee Council welcomed the report's findings on initial decisions.

"Rather than remove essential legal safeguards the government should concentrate on getting decisions right first time," she said.