Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum seekers absconded from (a) hotels and (b) other similar accommodation since 1 January 2023; and in how many and what proportion of those cases was all contact with her Department lost.

The Home Office does not publish a breakdown of statistics which disaggregates the number of adult asylum seekers leaving accommodation providing under Section 98. We have a statutory duty to provide support and accommodation to destitute asylum seekers while their claim for asylum is being considered. The Home Office does not hold or detain asylum seekers in hotels or any other asylum accommodation. Individuals are free to leave if they wish and the Home Office has no power to detain those who wish to leave.