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 many and what proportion of local authorities provide (a) private and (b) social housing for asylum seekers.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office continues to work closely with local authorities to manage all the pressures arising from the provision of asylum accommodation including the impact on wider LA obligations and plans.
Data, published quarterly, on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation can be found within the Asy_D11 tab for our most recent statistics release. The data can also be broken down by region and by local authority. Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to the public purse was of payments to Stay Belvedere Hotels for asylum accommodation in the last 12 months.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Stay Belvedere Homes Limited (SBHL) was not contracted directly by the Home Office to provide asylum accommodation. They were a subcontractor to Clearsprings Ready Homes until the Home Office asked that SBHL be removed from the supply chain.
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 her Department has spent on dental care for asylum seekers in hotels in the last year; and whether asylum seekers have access to free dental care.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Information on asylum expenditure is published in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts at Home Office annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 13 October 2025 to Question 77304 on Multiple Occupation: Migrants, whether her Department (a) collates data on which individual houses of multiple occupation are used to house asylum seekers and (b) holds data on the number of those HMOs, broken down by local authority.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
I refer the Honourable Member to the answer provided in PQ 77304.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 20 October 2025 to Question 78583, on Immigration: English Language, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of making it a requirement of anyone being granted asylum to subsequently learn English to continue (a) residing and (b) receiving benefits.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Successfully integrating refugees is a Government priority. The ability to speak and understand English is a key factor in successful integration, allowing refugees to become active contributors to the communities in which they live.
The Immigration White Paper set out plans to increase language requirements for most routes to B2 level at settlement stage, as well as the intention to consult on wider settlement reform later this year. These changes will impact the requirements for people who wish to reside in the UK and have access to public funds through settlement.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the letter from the Minister for Border Security & Asylum to the Home Affairs Select Committee of 8 October 2025, if she will publish the full specification and services offered under Changing Lives.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
Simply Active Group CIC (formerly Changing Lives Limited) is contracted to deliver a structured programme of recreational activities for Service Users at Wethersfield. These activities include three days of on-site sports provision between the hours of 11.00am and 4.00pm. A varied rota of a minimum of four activity sessions per day is provided.
Further details related to this contract are publicly available: Recreational Activity Provision - Contracts Finder. The contract has been extended with services now extended to February 2026.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the letter from the Minister for Border Security & Asylum to the Home Affairs Select Committee of 8 October 2025, if she will publish each Service User Demand Plan.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Service User Demand Plans are not published. The Home Office publishes information about asylum seekers across the UK quarterly here Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 13 October 2025 to Question 77304 on Multiple Occupation: Migrants, how many asylum seekers have been moved from hotels to houses of multiple occupation in the last year.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not publish data on moves within the asylum accommodation estate.
Data, published quarterly, on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation, including accommodation type, can be found within the Asy_D11 tab of our most recent statistics release. Immigration system statistics data tables - www.gov.uk/government/collections/immigration-statistics-quarterly-release
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to include astrocytoma brain cancer in the (a) National Cancer Plan, (b) Rare Cancers Bill and (c) NHS Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad.
Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The National Cancer Plan will take into account the needs of all patients with brain tumours. This means we will not be excluding any kinds of brain or spinal cord tumours and astrocytomas will be included as part of our work on brain tumours.
The Rare Cancers Bill as currently drafted is relevant to cancers that affect not more than 1 in 2000 people in the United Kingdom. Astrocytoma and low grade gliomas fit this definition and will therefore be relevant to the Bill.
The Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad (CVLP) is a platform that will speed up access to clinical trials for cancer vaccines and immunotherapies for patients who have been diagnosed with cancer. The platform is designed to be company and clinical trial agnostic so any company, including those developing vaccines for brain tumours, can contact the CVLP to explore how the platform can support their research.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking with Cancer Research UK to increase levels of future funding for brain tumour research.
Answered by Zubir Ahmed - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department continues to engage with a broad range of stakeholders, including Cancer Research UK and other third sector organisations, to identify areas of investment in brain tumour research. The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is the research arm of the Department. Working with stakeholders from across the research community, in September 2024 the NIHR launched a package of support to stimulate high-quality research applications through: establishing a national Brain Tumour Research Consortium to bring together researchers from different disciplines to drive scientific advancements in how to prevent, detect, manage, and treat brain tumours; a dedicated funding call for research into wraparound care and rehabilitation for people living with brain tumours; and a partnership with the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission to fund the next generation of researchers through the Allied Health Professionals Brain Tumour Research Fellowship programme.
We will continue to explore all opportunities for collaborations with Cancer Research UK and other organisations to increase the amount of high-quality research into this important area.