Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with the Scottish Government on (a) immigration, (b) asylum seekers and (c) refugees.

Immigration is a reserved matter and representatives from across Government meet with their counterparts and will continue to do so as part of regular engagement with the Devolved Administrations.

The Home Secretary chaired the Home Office's Inter Ministerial Group with the Devolved Administrations on 11th July 2023, where one of the items for discussion was the Illegal Migration Bill.

From 13 April 2022, all local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales are considered a dispersal area and will need to take part in asylum dispersal. This is to ensure a fair and equitable accommodation spread of asylum seekers across the UK. We have agreed targets for every local authority and region in the UK to deliver by the end of 2023. The latest published Home Office figures from 31st March 2023 show that Midlothian has one asylum dispersal accommodation.

The SNP Government are accommodating 4.6% of the total asylum population being accommodated in the UK, when Scotland makes up 8.2% of the UK population.

If you would like to put forward specific proposals, please do contact the Home Office at: rasiengagementhubregionalconsultation@homeoffice.gov.uk and officials will happily discuss this in greater detail with you.