Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department makes an assessment of the socio-economic background of an area when determining the location of asylum accommodation.

The Home Office has a set of asylum accommodation plans which set out how much Dispersal Accommodation is appropriate for each local authority. The Home office has developed an indexing tool which has helped to ensure that this is done in an evidence-based manner, factoring in a range of socio-economic factors, for example homelessness, pressures on GPs and hate crime. When procuring accommodation in line with those plans, our accommodation providers consult with local authorities who have the opportunity to set out any concerns and to signpost our accommodation providers to possible alternative properties.

The Home Office will continue to review the appropriateness of sites for use as asylum accommodation and remains committed to regularly engaging with local authorities and key stakeholders as part of this process.