Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether visitors to the Ramada Hotel, The Square, Solihull, will be able to use (a) the bowls green and (b) other facilities under the terms of the commercial agreement made between her Department and Subhash Gulati Group relating to the use of that hotel.

The use of hotels is a contingency measure, in order to meet our statutory obligation to house asylum seekers whilst we consider their claim for international protection. The Home Office has continued to see a higher than anticipated intake during recent months, which has meant continued demand for asylum support and accommodation services, which has resulted in service users being accommodated in hotels for longer than we had envisioned. We are however taking steps to resolve this and bring an end to hotel use as contingency accommodation.

The asylum accommodation service providers identify suitable properties and ensure that they conform to the accommodation standards and provision set out in Schedule 2 of the Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts (AASC). One of those provisions are exclusive use of the hotel.

The hotel is aware that the bowling club have expressed an interest in returning to the hotel to play, and the hotel have taken the position that it would not be possible for the bowls team to continue to play at the grounds.

The grounds are in the centre of the hotel grounds, surrounded by rooms. In order for the participants to be able to play they would have to enter the hotel by either walking through the dining area where service users are located for meals and recreational time, or they would come in through the main entrance and walk along the main corridor which leads to the dining area and then onto the green.

It would be difficult for the hotel and our providers housing officers to control who the individuals are, and control and monitor any events that may occur during the games, whilst ensuring the safety and wellbeing of customers.