Calais Jungle crisis: Children and young people from camps begin arriving in Staffordshire

The county council is signed up to the National Transfer Scheme and has been working closely with the regional migration team and other West Midlands authorities to identify placements for children.

The first to arrive was a 17-year-old boy from Sudan who is believed to have been the victim of trafficking.

More children will arrive in the region on a weekly basis for the next three weeks, and will then go on to be looked after by local authorities who have the capacity to take them.

This is in addition to the 84 unaccompanied asylum seeking children currently in the county council's care.

Leader of Staffordshire County Council, Philip Atkins, said: "Staffordshire has a proud history of helping those most in need and as well as accepting 50 Syrian refugees to the county this year and caring for 84 young asylum seekers in our care, we have extended our offer of help to the children arriving from the Calais camps.

"While is right that we offer immediate support to these vulnerable young people, the closure of the so called Calais jungle will undoubtedly prompt more young people to try and make the journey to the UK and more needs to be done to discourage people from setting off on their perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea to Calais in the first place."