Third of children in ‘Jungle’ are eligible for UK asylum

Baroness rejects dental records check suggestion

Around a third of the estimated 1,300 children in the Jungle refugee camp in Calais are eligible to come to the UK, according to a Home Office minister.

Amid the controversy sparked by calls for dental checks to verify the ages of child refugees, Baroness Williams of Trafford also told peers the UK did not carry out such examinations.

She highlighted the strong opposition of the British Dental Association which had branded such a move “inaccurate, inappropriate and unethical”.

Answering questions in the House of Lords, the minister said since the start of the year, 140 children had been identified as having the right to come to the UK because of family ties under the so-called Dublin regulation.

Lady Williams said most of them had been transferred and also highlighted the arrival of young refugees this week.

She told peers: “No date for completing the demolition of the camp has been specified.

“However, Home Office teams have been deployed to France to speed up the identification process.

“We will transfer as many children as possible who qualify under the Dublin regulation before the start of the clearance.”

The transfer of other unaccompanied refugee children, who were eligible to come to the UK under an amendment to the Immigration Act, secured by Labour peer Lords Dubs, would start in the coming weeks, she added.

Lady Williams said: “It is estimated there are approximately 1,300 children in the camps in Calais.

“Of those children that may be eligible to come here under either Dubs or Dublin it is estimated to be about a third of that number.”

She told peers: “Whether under Dubs or Dublin we are absolutely determined to get those children here.”

Pressed over the issue of dental checks, Lady Williams said all candidates for relocation to Britain were interviewed by both French and UK officials. She said: “Where credible and clear documentary evidence of age is not available the criteria of physical appearance and demeanour are used as part of the interview process to assess age.

“When those children come here we do not use dental x-rays to confirm the ages of those seeking asylum in the UK.

“The British Dental Association is vigorously opposed to them and has described them as inaccurate, inappropriate and unethical.”

Pictures: PA. A teenager who has arrived from the notorious “Jungle” camp in Calais, France, outside Lunar House, the headquarters of Visas and Immigration, in Croydon.

Young refugees making their way to Lunar House in Croydon.

Baroness Williams of Trafford.