Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department provides additional funding to local authorities 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 where an 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.