Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will ensure that all school age children in initial asylum hotel accommodation have access to adequate (a) space, (b) internet connections and (c) other equipment to continue with online learning during the covid-19 lockdown announced in January 2021.

It is our aim to move asylum-seeking families with school-age children to suitable dispersed accommodation as quickly as possible. Due to the temporary nature of accommodating families in hotels, it is unlikely that children will have been enrolled in a local school before being moved to dispersal accommodation.

However, in our wider accommodation estate, the Home Office and its providers are taking the steps to ensure that children are able to access education as quickly as possible, including liaising with local authorities to source and provide educational activity packs and securing tablets and Wi-Fi to ensure that service users are able to access online resources.

Wi-Fi is also available throughout hotels and data SIM cards are provided in core initial accommodation where needed.