Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has carried out an equality impact assessment on her Department’s policy, as set out in Chapter 14 of the guidance Asylum Support: Policy Bulletins Instruction, to limit the amount of items people in asylum accommodation are allowed to have with them, with particular regard to the potential equalities impacts on children and families.

An overarching Policy Equality Statement was updated in 2020 as part of the establishment of the ‘Asylum Accommodation and Support Transformation’ which can be found on Gov.uk.

Accommodation providers have responsibility for transporting possessions when asylum seekers are moved from one address to another. The policy on ‘possessions’ belonging to an asylum seeker who is supported by the Home Office is set out in Chapter 14 of the Asylum Support: Policy Bulletins Instruction, which is also on Gov.uk.

Work to ascertain backdated payments following the High Court judgment, EWHC 2514 of 4 October 2021 is currently being undertaken.