Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2022 to Question 117802 on Asylum: Mental Illness, what the (a) role and (b) membership of the National Asylum Seeker Health Steering Group is; and what steps she is taking to help ensure that the mental health needs of asylum seekers are met.

On 25 June the Home Office and the Department for Health and Social Care established an officials-led National Asylum Seeker Steering Group (NASHSG). The group brings together experts from across the health and immigration sectors, including NGOs and devolved administrations, to consider the specific health and wellbeing needs, barriers and solutions for people seeking asylum status in the UK, with the aim of implementing the recommendations of the Safeguarding Adults National Network, ‘The Health, Wellbeing and Safeguarding Needs of Individuals Seeking Asylum’ report.

In addition, to address asylum seeker mental health needs, in September 2021 we allocated just over £1 million in grant funding to four projects running from the beginning of October 2021 until the end of March 2022. This was open to bids from local authorities, civil society organisations and strategic migration partnerships and the following four bidders were successful:

- Groundwork London

- Solace

- Barnardo’s

- Refugee Council

This work covers virtual and in-person support, direct trauma counselling, trauma informed and culturally responsive training for both front line staff and those delivering mental health services. Additionally, we have ensured a champion’s model that organisations can deploy to enhance access to appropriate therapeutic services for asylum seekers.