£4m plan to return child asylum seekers

A £4 million "reintegration centre" is being planned in Kabul so child asylum seekers can be sent home to Afghanistan, it emerged today.

The Guardian newspaper said the tender documents for the new centre reveal immigration officials hope to return a dozen boys aged 17 and under to Afghanistan every month if they have no right to stay in the UK.

The centre would provide them with a supervised home until they are 18 and would also give training, business start-up grants and short-term accommodation to 120 adults a month to help them return to Afghanistan.

Immigration Minister Damian Green said: "No one should be encouraging children to make dangerous journeys across the world.

"Therefore we are looking to work with other European countries, such as Norway, and valued international partners, such as Unicef, as well as the Afghan government to find ways to help these young men in their home countries and to return those who are in the UK safely to their home nations with appropriate support once they arrive."