Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of asylum seekers who will be accommodated at Wethersfield in (a) 2024 and (b) each of the next five years.

The government inherited an asylum system under unprecedented strain. We have taken immediate action to restart asylum processing which will save an estimated £7 billion for the taxpayer over the next ten years, and are delivering a major uplift in returns to remove people with no right to be in the UK. Over the long term this will reduce our reliance on hotels and costs of accommodation.

Occupancy at the Wethersfield site is currently capped at 580 as part of the Special Development Order. This means that during current operation of the site, the population will not exceed 580.

Once the relevant Special Development Order conditions have been discharged, regular occupancy will be capped at 800.

The number of residents on the site at any one time is likely to vary due to a number of factors, including individuals having moved to onward dispersed accommodation while their claims are being considered.