Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with (a) the Secretary of State for Education and (b) the Chief Inspector of Ofsted about implementing an inspection framework for hotels used by the Home Office to house unaccompanied asylum seeking children; and if she will make a statement.

The role of the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) (until 2012, the Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency) was established by the UK Borders Act 2007. Sections 48–56 of the UK Borders Act 2007 (as amended) provide the legislative framework for the inspection of the efficiency and effectiveness of the performance of functions relating to immigration, asylum, nationality and customs by the Home Secretary and by any person exercising such functions on her behalf.

In October 2022, the ICIBI published a report into his inspection between March – May 2022 on the use of hotels for housing unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC). The report can be found on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/an-inspection-of-the-use-of-hotels-for-housing-unaccompanied-asylum-seeking-children-uasc-march-may-2022

The ICIBI was assisted in the inspection by Ofsted, acting in an advisory capacity. The ICIBI’s inspection found that ‘unanimously’ the young people accommodated at the interim hotels reported feeling ‘happy and safe’.

We are taking a new power in the Illegal Migration Bill to provide or arrange for the provision of accommodation for unaccompanied children. Our policy intention is to ensure that whilst time in this accommodation is expected to be short, we will be seeking to meet standards which are appropriate for the accommodation so that children are sufficiently supported and safeguarded. We are working closely with the Department for Education and relevant stakeholders on the appropriate standards which should apply. With regards to inspection, we expect to be transparent in allowing appropriate scrutiny of our accommodation linked to any agreed appropriate standards.