Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will set a time limit for the period of time a refugee spends in a bridging hotel.

e do not want to keep people in temporary accommodation for any longer than is absolutely necessary. We have moved – or are in the process of moving - over 6,000 people into homes since June 2021. There is a huge effort underway to support the families into permanent homes as soon as we can so they can settle and rebuild their lives, and to ensure those still temporarily accommodated in hotels are given the best start to their life in the UK.

The length of time that a family will remain in bridging hotels is dependent on a number of factors including the number of offers of appropriate housing from local authorities. We strive to allocate the right families into the right accommodation to ensure that their integration into their new communities in the UK is as smooth as possible.

Where local authorities or employers are able to offer accommodation in greater volume and more quickly, this overall timescale will reduce. We would like to encourage local authorities who have not yet pledged support to consider offering to do so.

An assessment has not been undertaken of the impact on refugees of residing in bridging in hotels for more than six months. However, we have put in place numerous mechanisms to support families; this includes a contact centre, a DWP and Home Office Liaison Officer (HOLO) presence to support Universal Credit enrolment, lead job surgeries and reassurance for families, plus a funding package for provision of local authority wrap-around support services. Wherever possible bridging hotels in or near major conurbations have been sourced so that appropriate support and services can be more readily provided. We are providing full food and board to all guests, alongside 24/7 security presence on site.

We will continue to work across government, with local authorities and the voluntary sector, to provide the best possible service to families whilst in bridging hotels. Local authorities continue to assist with helping families to integrate into communities upon their arrival to their permanent accommodation.

The Home Office regularly monitors the number of individuals in temporary accommodation, but at present there are no plans to publish figures while we continue to evacuate from the region. However, we publish data on resettlement in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data cover up to the end of December 2021. Additionally, the Home Office publishes a high-level overview of the data in the ‘summary tables’. The ‘contents’ sheet contains an overview of all available data on asylum and resettlement. The next publication will be in May 2022.