Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the reason for the increased number of asylum seekers in hotels on 30 June 2025 compared with the same date in 2024.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

This government inherited a hotels policy which saw 400 hotels opened and a staggering £9million spent a day housing migrants across the country.

Instead of clearing the asylum backlog to reduce those costs, the previous government allowed asylum decision-making to fall by 70 per cent in their last months in office.

I have been clear that I will do whatever it takes to secure our borders and end the use of hotels. This includes exploring the use of Ministry of Defence sites to get people out of hotels fast.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to increase the UK’s amphibious capabilities.

Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)

Amphibious shipping remains critical to delivering Littoral Strike and supporting NATO and global crisis response. Following the Strategic Defence Review 2025, the Royal Navy is committed to enhancing its amphibious capabilities through investment in new amphibious shipping, Littoral Response Groups and the ongoing modernisation of the Commando Force. Our ambition is to modernise this capability through the Multi Role Strike Ship programme. Final decisions on capability will be informed by the Defence Investment Plan and the resourced Integrated Force Design due in Autumn 2025.