Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what provisions will be in the new asylum accommodation contracts to ensure that successful asylum applicants do not become destitute when they leave dispersal accommodation.

The new arrangements for asylum accommodation and support contracts have been designed to improve the overall service by providing a more accessible and easy to navigate system which ensures the safety, security and welfare of service users and their host communities.

Accommodation Providers will continue to be required to provide safe, habitable, fit for purpose and correctly equipped accommodation that complies with the Decent Homes Standard in addition to standards outlined in relevant national or lo-cal housing legislation.

Providers will also have a contractual duty to notify the local authority of the potential need to provide housing where a person in that accommodation is granted refugee status, including any other information about the refugee’s needs that the Local Authority will need to help them provide accommodation before their support ceases.

These services will be delivered alongside other existing cross government initiatives to improve the transfer of information with Local Authorities including the Post Grant Appointments Service and the Local Authority Asylum Support Liaison Offices (LAASLO) pilot that aim to secure better outcomes for refugees within their move on period.