Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of people from Afghanistan who were resettled to the UK under the (a) ARAP and (b) ACRS were in bridging accommodation when her Department (i) announced that it would begin to issue and (ii) began to issue notices to quit.

Our recent release of transparency data, published on 19 September 2023, following the end of hotels being used as bridging accommodation can be accessed at Afghan bridging hotel exit operational data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The latest statistics (published on 24th August 2023) from the immigration system statistics quarterly release - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) provides a quarterly breakdown of the number of individuals resettled under both the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) and Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) in temporary accommodation up until the end of June 2023. For detailed data, see table Asy D02.

From the end of April 2023, resettled Afghan families staying in hotels and serviced apartments began to receive Notices to Quit their bridging accommodation. Residents received at least three months' notice to make arrangements to leave their hotel or serviced accommodation and were given clear guidance on the support they could access to help them find their own accommodation.

Despite all efforts, some families have been unable to find their own accommodation or unwilling to take up offers of housing and have needed to present as homeless. The statutory homelessness system provides a safety net, and no family will be left without a roof over their head.

We are unable to provide a running commentary on bridging accommodation occupation. When the notices to quit were announced by the Minister for Veterans' Affairs on 28 March, there were over 8,000 Afghans living in bridging accommodation.