Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what mechanisms her Department utilises to coordinate refugee transition policy with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

We have worked, and continue to work, with colleagues at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), including through ongoing cross-government discussions, to understand rough sleeping and homelessness pressures within local authorities in England. We are also working closely with MHCLG on the government’s National Plan to End Homelessness strategy and as part of this work we have committed to ensuring councils receive information from asylum accommodation providers for 100% of newly granted refugees at risk of homelessness within two days of an asylum discontinuation of support notification.

Following a time-limited pilot, the Home Office has introduced a 42-day end-of-support policy for newly granted refugees, providing additional time to support a successful move from asylum accommodation. Newly granted refugees can access Positive Move On advice from Migrant Help on accommodation, finances, benefits and employment. In selected areas, Asylum Move On Liaison Officers provide additional support to help support newly granted asylum seekers to successfully move on from asylum accommodation and access relevant services.