Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the answer to question 22623 of 4 September 2026 on Asylum: North West, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of accommodation providers having concentrated procurement activity in the North West on the availability of asylum accommodation in that region.

The full dispersal model facilitates a more equitable and fairer distribution of asylum accommodation nationally, ensuring that all local authorities play a part in supporting the Home Office meet its legal obligations to accommodate asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute while their applications are being considered.

Many of the local authorities in the Northwest were previous voluntary dispersal areas, prior to the introduction of Full Dispersal in 2022. This means that much of the estate within the region is representative of historical procurement, rather than recent efforts to expand the asylum accommodation within the region.

The asylum accommodation plans, set out total number of asylum seekers to be accommodated in every local authority nationally. Our accommodation providers continue working steadfastly to procure additional accommodation in line with these plans, specifically focusing on those regions and local authorities where there remains additional capacity for procurement. Given that many LAs within the Northwest have met those targets set out within the Asylum Accommodation Plans, procurement activity has been reduced proportionally and thus focusses only on those areas within the region where there remains capacity to procure.

The Home Office remains committed to growing a sustainable dispersal estate that accounts not only for the national demand for asylum accommodation, but also for local and regional context.