Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has plans to give people seeking asylum the right to work in the UK.

The Home Office already allows asylum seekers the right to work in the UK if their claim has been outstanding for 12 months or more, through no fault of their own.

Those permitted to work are restricted to jobs on the Shortage Occupation List, which is based on expert advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee. We have no plans to change this approach.