Hotel Asylum Accommodation: Local Authority Consultation Debate
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John Stevenson
Main Page: John Stevenson (Conservative - Carlisle)Department Debates - View all John Stevenson's debates with the Home Office
Hotel Asylum Accommodation: Local Authority Consultation
John Stevenson Excerpts(2 years ago)
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Robert Jenrick
In the letter that I wrote to the right hon. Gentleman and others, I said that 24 hours would be the bare minimum that we expect. I have asked officials to go beyond that already. I will ask for weekly updates on the performance against those standards and will review them progressively with a view to improving them. As I have said in answer to many questions, we want to improve this very significantly, as quickly as we can. In my tenure in the Department, the main bar on us has been ensuring that Manston was operating legally and decently. It is only that that has prevented us from implementing the standards sooner.
John Stevenson (Carlisle) (Con)
Will the Minister please ask the Home Office to set out a timetable for each hotel that it has used to accommodate asylum seekers so that they know when an assessment of each claimant will be made, conducted and finalised, and when such a hotel will return to its original use? By doing that, we will increase the efficiency of the system, benefit the asylum seeker, because they will know when it will be dealt with, help the local authority, and—probably most importantly—give confidence to our communities.
Robert Jenrick
My hon. Friend has raised those very valid points with me already. I will take them back to the Department to see what we can do to meet those standards in the future.