Ministers have been accused of failing asylum seeking children after they admitted hundreds are still missing from hotels.
In January the government revealed that around 200 children, mostly Albanian teenage boys, were missing from hotels housing asylum seekers.
Immigration minister Robert Jenrick said it was “extremely concerning” but added he had not seen evidence the children were being abducted.
Labour previously accused ministers of a “dereliction of duty” and said criminal gangs were involved in taking the children away.
However, nearly three months on, the government has not been able to solve the problem of youngsters going missing.
In a written answer to Labour’s Tulip Siddiq, Jenrick admitted this week that nearly 200 children are still missing.
He said: “Since July 2021, when unaccompanied asylum seeking children were first accommodated in hotels, there have been 447 missing episodes [the term episode used as some children have gone missing been located and subsequently gone missing again]. 186 of these young people are still missing.”
Jenrick said the figure was based on local management information and “therefore liable to change”.
When Siddiq raised the issue with Rishi Sunak in January she was told action was being taken to find the children.
The prime minister told her: “The reports that we have read about are concerning.
“Local authorities have a statutory duty to protect all children, regardless of where they go missing from and in that situation they work closely with the local agencies, including the police to establish their whereabouts.”
Siddiq, the MP for Hampstead and Kilburn, told HuffPost UK: “Three months later, the government has admitted that there are still almost 200 unaccompanied asylum seeking children missing from Home Office hotels. This is simply shameful.
“We know that these vulnerable children are at high risk of exploitation by criminal gangs. Ministers must act now to address this.”
If a young person goes missing from such a care setting a protocol is followed to try and find them and ensure they are safe. Jenrick said the police are responsible for locating any missing children.