Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many vacant places there are in asylum seeker (a) contingency and (b) bridging hotels in Aberdeen.

Bridging hotel accommodation was previously used to temporarily house Afghans resettling in the UK and has not been used to accommodate asylum seekers. As of 31 August 2023, we have successfully ended the use of bridging hotels for legally resettled Afghans.

Asylum accommodation is offered on a no choice basis. Asylum seekers receiving asylum support may be accommodated in any area of the UK where the Home Office has a supply of accommodation available and ready to use.

Data on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation (including in contingency hotels and other contingency accommodation) is published in table Asy_D11 here: Asylum and resettlement datasets - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). Data is published on a quarterly basis.