Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment he has made of whether private providers responsible for running asylum accommodation are meeting their contractual requirements.

The Asylum Accommodation and Support Services Contracts (AASC) Statement of Requirements below gives a detailed breakdown of all of the services to be undertaken by our accommodation providers and to the standards we expect:

AASC_-_Schedule_2_- _Statement_of_Requirements.pdf (parliament.uk).

Home Office accommodation providers are required to visit each property at least monthly, and assurance that contractual requirements are met is tested by the Home Office Contract Assurance Team, which inspects properties and undertakes other assurance activities on an intelligence-led basis. Formal governance mechanisms are in place, to oversee performance and delivery against contractual requirements.