Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with (a) local authorities, (b) Health Boards, (c ) the local voluntary sector and (d) the Senedd on accommodating asylum seekers in Wales.

The Home Office has an established governance process with local authorities in Wales, as it does with other nations and local authorities in England, to drive delivery of our full dispersal plans.

The governance process includes a monthly meeting between the Home Office, our accommodation providers, Strategic Migration Partnerships and local authorities in Wales to drive collective delivery against this target. The focus of these discussions is to consider progress against the regional dispersal plan, opportunities and local housing market pressures.

The Standard Operating Procedure sets out that when a site is identified for use on the Asylum Support Contracts, the Deputy Director of Asylum Support will initially notify the Chief Executive of the relevant local authority and the Member of Parliament. This will notify the local authority that we have identified the site as a potential contingency site and that we will commence engagement with local authority officials, as well as Police and Health partners.

We are committed to work closely with all local authorities and stakeholders through Multi Agency Forum (MAF) meetings to address any concerns of the local community and reduce the impact on local services.

Furthermore, we recently met with Welsh counterparts such as Minister for Social Justice Jane Hutt MP on 30th March.

The latest Home Office figures show that Wales holds 2.6% of supported asylum seekers while Wales makes up 5.2% of the UK’s population. The current number of asylum seekers being accommodated in Wales is lower than it was in June 2020, despite the significant increase in asylum claims.