Asylum Seekers: Hotel Accommodation

Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle Excerpts

Monday 25th November 2024 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

No, we respect our international obligations—and we can take action. As I said a moment ago, the 9,400 total returns is a 19% increase over the past year; 2,590 were enforced returns. It is an important step by this Government to remove people who have no right of abode in this United Kingdom. But we will respect asylum claims that are legitimate. We will speed them up and, by doing so, we will ensure—to the point made by the noble Lord, Lord German—that people, having had that asylum approved, will be able to go out and contribute to society. It is a very difficult tanker to turn, as the noble Viscount will understand, but it is one that we are determined to turn.

[Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP)]

My Lords, back in April a joint report from the APPG on Poverty and the APPG on Migration recommended that asylum seekers should be allowed to work after six months in the country. Given the enormous asylum backlog and the costs to which we are referring, surely the Government are considering allowing asylum seekers to work after six months, so that they can both support themselves and contribute their skills and energy to our economy, while we deal with this enormous continuing backlog.

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I refer the noble Baroness to the answer I gave earlier to the noble Lord, Lord German. Those are issues I will take as a representation, but the prime focus of the Government currently is to increase the use of asylum cases being approved and we have done that—up from 1,000 a month to 10,000 in the last month. That has been a big focus. I repeat myself, but it is important, the focus is on the issue of small boats, the Border Security Command and the issue of trying in the long term to reduce the number of hotels and to scrap the Rwanda scheme. Those are initial proposals the Government have brought forward. We will look at other options in due course.