Covid-19: Support and Accommodation for Asylum Seekers Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Home Office
Jo Gideon
Main Page: Jo Gideon (Conservative - Stoke-on-Trent Central)Department Debates - View all Jo Gideon's debates with the Home Office
Covid-19: Support and Accommodation for Asylum Seekers
Jo Gideon Excerpts(4 years, 5 months ago)
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Chris Philp
The hon. Lady asked about moves at the beginning of the coronavirus epidemic and, as I have explained, that was done for reasons of public health and public safety. I will not apologise for taking steps at the beginning of this very serious health epidemic to protect the health of all the public and of asylum seekers in particular. As I have said, there have been no confirmed coronavirus cases among people living in Glasgow hotels, so that approach has worked.
Jo Gideon (Stoke-on-Trent Central) (Con)
I am delighted to say that my constituency of Stoke-on-Trent Central has welcomed many asylum seekers in the past, but does the Minister recognise that areas such as Stoke-on-Trent face huge and increasingly strained demands on our local support networks and that the capacity is not unlimited?
Chris Philp
Yes, I do accept what my hon. Friend says. I know that Stoke-on-Trent does a great deal already, for which all of us, I am sure, are very grateful. There are, of course, natural constraints to how much any given city can do, and one of the reasons that I will speed up the whole asylum process is to alleviate exactly those pressures.