Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the contribution of the Minister for Veterans Affairs in the debate on Resettlement of Afghans on 19 September 2023, Official Report, column 1253, how many and what proportion of the Afghans housed in hotel accommodation in March 2023 were given at least one offer of permanent accommodation before 31 August 2023.

There is no published breakdown of the number of individuals who received a property offer during the stated period.

We gave Afghans living in hotels and serviced apartments three months’ notice in which they would need to leave their bridging accommodation - and stepped up our support to help them find settled accommodation. This was backed by £285m of new funding for councils which included a flexible housing fund worth £7,100 per person which many LAs used as rent top ups to enable this cohort to access private rented sector properties. The UK Government has granted all Afghans relocated through safe and legal routes with Indefinite Leave to Remain, including the immediate right to work, alongside access to the benefits system and vital health, education, and employment support.

Transparency data has recently been released (published on 19 September 2023), following the end of bridging accommodation use. This provides a helpful overview of the best available operational data as of 31 August 2023, and can be viewed at: Afghan bridging hotel exit operational data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). This publication confirms that there were over 8,000 Afghans living in bridging accommodation on 28 March, when the plan to end Bridging accommodation was announced. It also shows that overall, 10,404 people have been housed by a local authorities since June 2021.