Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many hotels in Northern Ireland are currently being used for asylum accommodation, broken down by local government district.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Exiting the use of asylum hotels as quickly as possible remains one of the Government’s top priorities. We made a clear commitment to return these hotels to local communities, and we are delivering on that promise. As is widely recognised, this is a complex undertaking that must be carried out through a controlled, managed and orderly programme of work.
The number of hotels used to accommodate asylum seekers is significantly lower than at its peak under the previous government in summer 2023, when more than 400 hotels were in use at a cost of almost £9 million per day. As of 20 April, fewer than 190 hotels are in use.
It is longstanding policy that we do not publicly comment on individual hotels which may or may not be utilised. However, data on the number of asylum seekers receiving accommodation support, broken down by accommodation type including hotels, is published quarterly as part of the Immigration system statistics on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party - Upper Bann)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding has been provided to the Executive Office, Department for Communities, Department of Health, Department of Education, councils, charities or contractors in Northern Ireland for asylum or refugee integration since 2019.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Responsibility for the integration of refugees and asylum seekers is a devolved matter. In Northern Ireland, policy and delivery in this area sit with the Northern Ireland Executive, led by the Executive Office and delivered across devolved departments, local councils and third‑sector partners.
The UK Government provides funding through multiple departments, but decisions on the allocation and use of that funding for integration purposes are matters for the Northern Ireland Executive.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the value for money to the taxpayer of her Department conducting repeated site assessments for asylum accommodation on sites that do not proceed in (a) England and (b) Great Yarmouth constituency.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Home office undertakes routine assurance checks before committing to any accommodation particularly any large sites learning lessons from the past. Cost of these checks will be relatively modest but essential particularly in ruling out unsuitable options.
The Asylum Accommodation Plans are the mechanism via which the Home Office works towards achieving Full Dispersal and thus, a fair and balanced distribution of asylum accommodation across all local authorities nationally.
The Asylum Accommodation Plans are underpinned by an indexing model which accounts for a multitude of pressures within local authorities, including – availability of housing, levels of homelessness, availability of GP and dentists as well as levels of community cohesion. Development of the plans was informed by engagement with a range of national, regional and local stakeholders, to ensure that the evidence base was reflective of broader local authority feedback.
For the safety and security of those we accommodate and staff, it is our longstanding policy not to disclose information about sites which may or may not be utilised by the Home Office.
The Home Office publishes all available information on asylum expenditure in the Home Office Annual Report and accounts at Home Office annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Restore Britain - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what expenditure has been incurred by her Department on assessments of asylum accommodation sites in Great Yarmouth that did not proceed.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Home office undertakes routine assurance checks before committing to any accommodation particularly any large sites learning lessons from the past. Cost of these checks will be relatively modest but essential particularly in ruling out unsuitable options.
The Asylum Accommodation Plans are the mechanism via which the Home Office works towards achieving Full Dispersal and thus, a fair and balanced distribution of asylum accommodation across all local authorities nationally.
The Asylum Accommodation Plans are underpinned by an indexing model which accounts for a multitude of pressures within local authorities, including – availability of housing, levels of homelessness, availability of GP and dentists as well as levels of community cohesion. Development of the plans was informed by engagement with a range of national, regional and local stakeholders, to ensure that the evidence base was reflective of broader local authority feedback.
For the safety and security of those we accommodate and staff, it is our longstanding policy not to disclose information about sites which may or may not be utilised by the Home Office.
The Home Office publishes all available information on asylum expenditure in the Home Office Annual Report and accounts at Home Office annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer of 9 March 2026, to Question 111142, on Housing: Asylum, whether there has been any HM Government expression of interests requested from local authorities in relation to asylum accommodation, including pilots referenced in the Funding Instruction for Local Authorities: Asylum Grant 2025 - 2026.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
We ran an expression of interest exercise on new accommodation models with local authorities in 2025. However, further information on responses or guidance given to interested local authorities on the new accommodation model is considered commercially sensitive.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding was provided by her Department to the London Borough of Hillingdon for asylum support in 2024-25.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Cabinet Office publish annual grant funding data (Government Grants Data and Statistics) where you can find details of grant levels by local authority area broken down per year. The Home Office does not publish any additional information.
Asked by: Tom Morrison (Liberal Democrat - Cheadle)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues is taking to improve outcomes for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children who go missing from care.
Answered by Josh MacAlister - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government takes the issue of any child going missing, either from home or from local authority care, extremely seriously. An unaccompanied child is entitled to the same support as any other looked after child, regardless of their immigration status.
We expect local authorities and their safeguarding partners to work together to reduce the chances of children going missing, to respond effectively when they do, and understand why. We have provided clear guidance about responsibilities towards all children who go missing. This includes the appropriate response from the relevant police force and expectations for the settings where children live, to ensure children have access to the services they need.
Measures from the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and Crime and Policing Bill, reforms being delivered through the Families First Partnership Programme (supported by £2.4 billion), updates to the ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ statutory guidance and oversight from the Keeping Children Safe ministerial board will ensure that we better respond when children go missing and intervene earlier to tackle the problems children and their families face.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment has been made of the adequacy of levels of payments to local authorities outlined in the Funding instruction for local authorities: Asylum Dispersal Grant 2026-2027.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Asylum Dispersal Grant supports local authorities with a contribution to the costs and pressures of accommodating asylum seekers across all eligible accommodation types in their area. The grant is not intended to meet full costs, but to provide a contribution towards costs incurred by councils, consistent with affordability, value for money and the Local Government Funding Doctrine.
The Home Office does not hold a single estimate of the total costs incurred by councils in delivering the services outlined in the Asylum Dispersal Grant Funding Instruction, as costs vary significantly by local authority. Each local authority is free to determine how best to utilise the funding but for monitoring and evaluation purposes must be able to demonstrate that they have fulfilled the eligibility conditions in supporting Asylum Seekers in their area.
Asked by: Andrew Snowden (Conservative - Fylde)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate has been made of the costs incurred by councils for the provision of the services outlined in the Funding instruction for local authorities: Asylum Dispersal Grant 2026-2027.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Asylum Dispersal Grant supports local authorities with a contribution to the costs and pressures of accommodating asylum seekers across all eligible accommodation types in their area. The grant is not intended to meet full costs, but to provide a contribution towards costs incurred by councils, consistent with affordability, value for money and the Local Government Funding Doctrine.
The Home Office does not hold a single estimate of the total costs incurred by councils in delivering the services outlined in the Asylum Dispersal Grant Funding Instruction, as costs vary significantly by local authority. Each local authority is free to determine how best to utilise the funding but for monitoring and evaluation purposes must be able to demonstrate that they have fulfilled the eligibility conditions in supporting Asylum Seekers in their area.
Asked by: Liz Saville Roberts (Plaid Cymru - Dwyfor Meirionnydd)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, noting the context of devolved legislation, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes put forward as part of her Department’s consultation entitled Family Returns: Reforming Asylum Support and Enforcing Family Returns on local authorities in Wales.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
While asylum and immigration policy are reserved matters, the Home Office recognises that the proposals in the consultation titled Family Returns: Reforming Asylum Support and Enforcing Family Returns interact with important devolved responsibilities, including those of local authorities.
The consultation is seeking views from the devolved administrations on potential impacts of the proposals and responses from Welsh local authorities and the Welsh Government will inform relevant impact assessments, policy, regulations and guidance.
The Home Office will continue to engage with devolved administrations and local authority partners to ensure any reforms are implemented responsibly and in line with statutory duties.