Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the suitability of hotel detention for people seeking asylum.

The Home Office are not detaining asylum seekers in hotels; we are accommodating them. Our accommodation providers do not have enforcement powers and those we are accommodating are free to come and go as they please. All sites have security staff, and the numbers vary depending upon the size of the sites. Some sites will have additional measures including fencing installed to reduce access and unmanned access points to sites. Our accommodation providers work with local police forces, and generally our sites are added to Police “red” lists should a call out be needed because someone is trying to access the site.

Increased asylum intake, alongside measures taken to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, has meant the Home Office has had to deal with growing demand for asylum support and accommodation services.

Throughout the pandemic we have taken decisive action to ensure those seeking asylum in the UK have the support they need. We have provided accommodation for everyone in asylum, including those whose applications have been rejected and new applicants claiming asylum.

Given the challenges in the property market during lockdown, we have had to move at pace to support a growing population, ensuring we meet our legal obligation to house destitute asylum seekers. We have therefore had to source hotel accommodation across the United Kingdom. We must be clear hotels are only ever a contingency option and we do not view them as a long-term solution.