Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the average length of stay of asylum seekers in contingency accommodation in Northern Ireland; and what steps she is taking to ensure that contingency accommodation is used for short-term stays only.

The Home Office monitors the length of stay in Initial Accommodation and Contingency Accommodation on a regular basis.

The asylum accommodation system is under enormous pressure because of the significant and sustained increase in asylum intake over the last 12 months and the build-up of the population as a result of Covid-19 related measures. This has resulted in over 25,000 asylum seekers being accommodated in temporary contingency accommodation, such as hotels. This is not acceptable; it is not fair on the taxpayers, and it does not offer the right solution for communities or those seeking asylum; it must change.

I therefore wrote to all Local Authorities on 13 April 2022 to set out plans for Full Dispersal. This will reduce and then eliminate the use of hotels for asylum seekers by moving to a full dispersal model for asylum accommodation. This will mean expanding our existing approach of using private rental sector housing to all local authority areas across England, Scotland and Wales.

The arrangements for asylum accommodation are different in Northern Ireland as Northern Ireland does not form part of the asylum dispersal system.

My officials are working with the Northern Ireland Executive to identify how they can contribute to this UK wide challenge.