Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has taken recent steps to help promote good community relations in areas where hotels have been block booked for an indeterminate period for the sole use of asylum seekers.

Due to the continuing unprecedented high volume of small boats arrivals and the historical pressure from COVID-19 measures on the asylum system it has been necessary to continue to use hotels to accommodate some asylum seekers to meet our immediate statutory need.

When a new hotel has been identified, the Home Office will write to the Local Authority Chief Executive and the MP for the area to inform them of our plans to house asylum seekers within the hotel identified. This is normally done in advance of a hotel being used, but when a particularly urgent need for accommodation occurs, this may take place retrospectively. We also then offer the Local Authority a meeting to discuss the hotel, where they are able to provide feedback on the proposed site and all related matters.

Community cohesion is an important aspect of using contingency sites successfully and we actively engage and collaborate with relevant stakeholders to understand and act on any concerns appropriately as the site operates.

The Full Dispersal model, announced on 13 April 2022, aims to reduce then end the use of hotels by allowing the Home Office to procure dispersal properties within the private rental sector in all Local Authority areas across England, Scotland and Wales, rather than the minority of Local Authorities which currently participate. This more equitable approach is supported by £21million of un-ringfenced grant funding to make sure eligible Local Authorities can provide wraparound support locally. Local authorities will also receive £3,500 for each new dispersal accommodation bed space in the 22/23 financial year.