Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department has spent on procuring cruise ships to accommodate asylum seekers as of 18 July 2023.

There is an urgent need to reduce reliance on hotels to accommodate asylum seekers, to reduce cost to taxpayer and to better manage community impacts. In exploring potential alternative large sites, we continue to consider all available options to source appropriate and cost-effective temporary accommodation.

Vessels have been used safely and successfully by Scottish and Dutch Governments over past year as accommodation.

Other European Governments, in the same situation of needing to provide increased accommodation capacity, are using vessels.