Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of hours a day migrants will remain on the barge in Portland Port; whether those migrants will be required to be on the barge overnight; and what steps her Department plans to take when a migrant does not return to the barge at an appointed time.

Asylum seekers accommodated in large accommodation sites will be non-detained. The site is self-contained with essential living needs provided on site, although those living at the site would be free to come and go. If an asylum seeker were not back on site by 11pm a call would be made to the individual to establish their whereabouts.

The vessel will be managed an experienced accommodation provider, under contractual terms agreed with the Home Office. The same supplier has safely and successfully managed two vessels for Ukrainian refugees for the Scottish Government over the past year.