Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Compass asylum accommodation contract, how many uninhabitable incidents in terms of no operational smoke or fire alarms, under part B.3.1.7 of the Schedule 2 statement of requirements there were in each region covered by that contract in 2016-17.

Asylum accommodation providers are held to the highest standards, including in relation to fire safety. A number of inspections are carried out each year, and where defects are identified we notify the provider and expect these to be fixed within contractual timescales. No issues in relation to fire safety were reported in the years specified under the performance management regime.

However, to provide the specific information requested would require a manual trawl through all inspection and incident reports, which would breach the disproportionate cost threshold.