Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the existing 1:200 dispersal ratio in the COMPASS asylum accommodation arrangements will be applied at local authority ward level.

The 1:200 limit generally applies to the whole of a dispersal area and has not historically been applied to individual wards. Instead the Home Office works on an individual basis with Local Authorities to address concerns around population clusters in specific wards.

In addition the COMPASS Providers must consult Local Authorities on all new properties procured for use on the COMPASS Contracts.

Where there is clear evidence that properties are not suitable for use in the asylum dispersal scheme, or evidence that a cluster in a specific ward is no longer sustainable then the Home Office would take action to address this, including where necessary halting procurement or dispersal.