Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for what reason her Department has paused the sharing of regional asylum dispersal pack data with local government led strategic migration partnerships; and if she will change the policy of her Department in sharing this data.

The Home Office regularly publishes official accredited statistics, setting out the numbers of asylum seekers in receipt of Home Office support, broken down by local authorities These statistics are published on Gov.uk and are freely available to local authority officials.

There are frameworks and processes in place, to facilitate the sharing of additional or sensitive information with local authority officials to facilitate their planning and delivery. The Home Office regularly reviews the sharing of such information to ensure it remains necessary, proportionate and complies with legislation. Although rare, we may have to temporarily pause the sharing of such information whilst we undertake a review.