Vulnerable child trafficking victims have had to stay overnight in police cells because of a lack of communication between local authorities.
Many of these Roma children - brought to the UK by criminal gangs and forced to participate in illegal activity - then go back to their traffickers or the streets, instead of into the care of social services, Conservative MP Anthony Steen told the House of Commons.
The MP for Totnes said: "The local authority where a child lives is responsible for the child's care, but the child is often found on the streets committing crime in another local authority area.
"As the local authorities do not communicate with one another to arrange transfer of that child's care, the responsibility falls on the police, who can offer no provision of care except a police cell, as they have been known to do at the Charing Cross police station (in London)."
Steen, who called for more resources and guidance for local authorities, highlighted a recent case in which a child was arrested in London's West End.
He said: "Westminster has one of the best social services departments in the country, yet no one turned up to do an assessment. Westminster understandably claimed that with only one social worker on duty during the night, it was unable to assist, despite the fact that the police believed the child to be a victim of trafficking."
Westminster City Council, however, disputed the allegation. Geoff Skinner, acting director of children, young people and family services, said: "We can confirm that a council social worker attended the police station to assess this young man after he had been picked up by police officers in the West End. In this case, the police did not request that the council find him accommodation but he remained in custody until he appeared in court. Following his court appearance, we did provide a foster placement."
Lisa Nandy, chair of the Refugee Children's Consortium, echoed Steen's call for more resources but added: "There is also a need for concerted government action to ensure children do not get passed around between local authorities or, at worst, fall through the net entirely."
