Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether his Department has received representations from Durham County Council on the conversion of family homes into houses of multiple occupation for the accommodation of asylum seekers by the Mears Group.

The Home Office has a statutory obligation to provide accommodation to asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute while their application for asylum is being considered.

The Home Office hold monthly meetings between asylum accommodation contract providers, Strategic Migration Partnerships and local authorities for each region. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss proposed asylum dispersal properties, allowing the views of local authorities to be aired for Home Office consideration.