Asked by: Gavin Robinson (Democratic Unionist Party - Belfast East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum applications were received in Northern Ireland in the last financial year.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Available data on people claiming asylum in the UK is published in table Asy_D01 of the ‘Asylum claims and initial decisions detailed datasets’. Data on asylum seekers in receipt of support by local authority is published in table Asy_D11 of the ‘Asylum support detailed datasets’.
The latest data relates to the year ending March 2025 and as at 31 March 2025. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks.
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 asylum seekers have been housed in Upper Bann constituency in the last five years.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office publishes data on a quarterly basis on the number of asylum seekers in supported accommodation, broken down by local authority and located within Asy_D11 tab at: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 10 June 2025 to Question 54886 on Asylum: Housing, whether she has made an estimate of the number of appeal decisions that have been made by the Planning Inspectorate in relation to (a) hotels and (b) hostels being used to house asylum seekers in the last 12 months.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 60845 on 30 June 2025.
Asked by: Rebecca Smith (Conservative - South West Devon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has commissioned the use of (a) hotel accommodation and (b) private rented accommodation in South West Devon constituency for the purpose of housing asylum seekers since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Home Office)
Statistics are published on a quarterly basis detailing the number of asylum seekers in supported accommodation in each local authority area. The most recent publication can be found here: Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Planning Inspectorate has made appeal decisions on asylum accommodation in the last 12 months.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
Planning appeals are not routinely categorised by whether an appeal features a decision on asylum accommodation. As such, it is not possible to confirm whether any appeals relating to this have been considered in the last 12 months in the time given.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 6 June 2025 to Question 53912 on Asylum: Housing, whether the Planning Inspectorate has considered any planning appeals relating to such change of use from hotels to asylum accommodation in the last 24 months.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Planning Inspectorate does not hold the requested information in a readily searchable way, and planning appeals are not routinely categorised by the specific nature of the change of use, such as from hotels to asylum accommodation. As such, it is not possible to confirm whether any appeals relating to this specific change of use have been considered in the last 24 months.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what additional resources she is making available to support councils with (a) asylum dispersal and (b) homelessness.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Home Office’s current accommodation funding arrangements to support local authorities are published on gov.uk here.
To support councils with homelessness, the Government has increased funding for homelessness services by £233 million this year, taking the total for 2025/26 to £1 billion. The Spending Review has protected this record level of investment for homelessness until 2028/29 and provides £100 million, including from the Transformation Fund, to fund increased homelessness prevention activity by local authorities.
Asked by: John McDonnell (Independent - Hayes and Harlington)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to introduce emergency accommodation schemes for the transition from hotel accommodation for asylum seekers that have been granted status.
Answered by Rushanara Ali - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
When newly recognised refugees leave Home Office accommodation, they are entitled to help with finding accommodation from their local authority if homeless. If in priority need, they will be provided with temporary accommodation.
The Government recognises the importance of a smooth transition out of asylum support accommodation for newly recognised refugees. Support is available to all individuals through Migrant Help and their partners. This includes providing guidance on entering the workforce, applying for Universal Credit, and connecting individuals with local authorities for housing assistance.
Since 9 December 2024, newly recognised refugees have 56 days to move on from asylum accommodation. This increases the support grace period from 28 days and is intended to support individuals and local authorities during the period of increased decision making.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 6 June 2025 to Question 53912 on Asylum: Housing, if she will make it her policy to issue planning practice guidance on changing hotels to asylum hostel accommodation.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
My Department has no plans to issue such guidance.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she can publish what planning rules have been made by the Planning Inspectorate in relation to asylum hotel accommodation in the last 12 months.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Planning Inspectorate has not issued any rules specifically concerning the use of hotels for asylum accommodation.