Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing asylum seekers to work while their applications are being processed.

Asylum seekers are allowed to work in the UK if their claim has been outstanding for 12 months or more, through no fault of their own. Those permitted to work are restricted to jobs on the Shortage Occupation List.

Any further right to work could undermine legal routes and act as a pull factor to those seeking to come to the UK.