Asked by: Edward Leigh (Conservative - Gainsborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the reason for the increased number of asylum seekers in hotels on 30 June 2025 compared with the same date in 2024.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
This government inherited a hotels policy which saw 400 hotels opened and a staggering £9million spent a day housing migrants across the country.
Instead of clearing the asylum backlog to reduce those costs, the previous government allowed asylum decision-making to fall by 70 per cent in their last months in office.
I have been clear that I will do whatever it takes to secure our borders and end the use of hotels. This includes exploring the use of Ministry of Defence sites to get people out of hotels fast.
Asked by: Edward Leigh (Conservative - Gainsborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to the public purse was of proposals to house asylum seekers at the former RAF base at Scampton.
Answered by Tom Pursglove
Cost information is prospective and commercially sensitive, and as such is not available to be released. The pressure on the asylum system from small boat arrivals has continued to grow and requires us to look at a range of accommodation options which are more appropriate and offer better value for the taxpayer than expensive hotels.