§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what discussions she had during her recent visit to Australasia on her policy towards British child migrants; and if she will make a statement;
(2) pursuant to the announcement of the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, the hon. Member for Suffolk, Central (Mr. Yeo) of 19 May regarding the Child Migrants Trust, what progress has been made in discussions with the Australian Government regarding the child migrant scheme.
§ Mr. BowisCorrespondence between myself and the Australian Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs was already in train before my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State's visit to Australia in September. It was not therefore a matter for my right hon. Friend to raise during her visit.
Officials in Australia have, through the British high commission in Canberra and the consular department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, written to officials in my Department providing details of the activities, to date, of the Child Migrants Trust in Australia. Both Governments are funding the Child Migrants Trust in support of their record tracing and advisory activities.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if she will take steps to arrange financial assistance and retrospective payments to former child migrants who have incurred expenditure in returning to Britain to locate and be reunited with their natural families.
§ Mr. BowisThe migration schemes for children from the United Kingdom in the care of voluntary and statutory agencies, were run mainly by voluntary bodies. The Government are funding the Child Migrants Trust to assist it in record tracing and in providing an advisory service,504W and continue to support constructive contacts between the trust and the voluntary bodies which ran the schemes. The Government did not deal with individual cases. We do not consider that it would be appropriate to provide financial assistance directly to former child migrants.