§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the number of children under the age of 16 years who have entered the UK as asylum356W seekers (a) with parents and (b) on their own in each of the last three years. [145761]
§ Mrs. RocheThe number of children under the age of 18 who have entered the United Kingdom as asylum 357W seekers on their own is estimated at 1,105 in 1997, 3,040 in 1998 and 3,350 in 1999. Information for 2000 is not yet available.
Reliable information on the number of children who have entered the United Kingdom as asylum seekers with their parents is not readily available and could only be obtained by examination of individual case records and is, therefore, available only at disproportionate cost.