Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 2 December 2021 to Question 83279 on Refugees: Housing, what consultation her Department carried out with each local authority prior to taking the decision to place asylum seekers in each local authority area.

Where we procure properties for asylum seekers, there is an engagement and consultation process to follow with stakeholders dependant on whether this is initial or dispersal accommodation.

For initial accommodation, including contingency initial accommodation, the Home Office will write to the Local Authority and the MP for the area to inform them of plans to use a site and arrange a meeting to discuss further. This is normally done in advance of a property being used, but where an urgent need for accommodation occurs, this may take place retrospectively.

For dispersal accommodation, which will be sourced in areas which have previously agreed to be part of this scheme, the Home Office’s providers will normally notify the Local Authority and begin a consultation process around the proposed use of a site. However please note, providers are not contractually bound to do this.