Asylum Hotels and Illegal Channel Crossings

Lord Purvis of Tweed Excerpts

Wednesday 26th March 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

I am grateful to my noble friend. We intend to uphold and keep to our international obligations.

[Lord Purvis of Tweed (LD)]

My Lords, this Government have decided to continue the practice of scoring 100% of in-country migration costs as official development assistance. In the Statement made by the Chancellor today, that overall figure is being cut by half a billion pounds in this coming year, and then by £4.8 billion next year. However, the Government are seeking to protect the Home Office costs of scoring ODA, which means that there will be profiting in this country as a result of the protection and the cuts elsewhere. Can the Minister say what is the level of private sector profiting scored as official development assistance which this Government are protecting?

[Lord Hanson of Flint (Lab)]

The noble Lord raises an interesting question. I will, as ever, examine that in detail and get back to him with a specific figure, which I do not have in front of me. The Government are undertaking a reprioritisation of resource to tackle this issue. As we have said, that means ending the Rwanda scheme, putting in place a proper Border Force through the immigration Bill, if passed, and ensuring that there are additional staff to speed up the asylum backlog. This will ensure that people are assessed properly and quickly, that those who have a right to claim asylum in this country are accepted and that those who do not are returned to a place of safety.