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The government has finally agreed to negotiate with ten
local authorities who are looking after the majority of
unaccompanied asylum seeking children in the UK - some 3,500 - and
have outstanding bills of more than £30million.
By law we must provide care and support to the children but
because government grants fall short, many councils are out of
pocket by millions of pounds.
On Tuesday I attended a meeting between organisations that
represent local authorities and the Home Office minister Liam Byrne
and Children, Schools and Families Minister Kevin Brennan.
They say they will work with us and want to find a solution in a
matter of weeks.
We desperately need a long-term solution so that all of our
costs are repaid by government every year. But our discussions with
government must also include reaching an agreement over the
historical debt, some of which dates back some three years.
Yesterday, as planned, we took our case to the House of Lords to
brief an audience including MPs, Peers and charities.
The Deputy Children's Commissioner for England and
representatives from Unicef, the Refugee Council, Save The Children
and the Medical Foundation for the Victims of Torture all supported
the call for councils to have 100% of their costs reimbursed.
Watch this space.....
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