Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to reduce the risk of self-harm amongst asylum seekers living in initial and dispersed asylum accommodation provided by the Home Office via contracts.

The Home Office operates a Safeguarding Hub to support vulnerable individuals. Both the Home Office and its accommodation providers have robust processes in place to ensure that where someone is at risk, they are referred to the appropriate statutory agencies of police, NHS, and social services to promote appropriate safeguarding interventions.

As well as making safeguarding referrals to the appropriate statutory agencies other actions include attendance at child/adult protection meetings with police and social workers and liaising with both external and internal partners to share information. The statutory agencies retain responsibility for all decisions on intervention activity.