Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average cost is of accommodating asylum seekers by Essex local authority.

This Government remains resolute in its commitment to reduce the costs of asylum accommodation, including ending the use of asylum hotels over time, through a number of actions including restarting the processing of asylum claims, establishing the new Border Security Command, and prioritising the acquisition of more sustainable dispersal accommodation.

The Home Office keeps the asylum accommodation estate under constant review, but demand for asylum accommodation is volatile. This means the Home Office often has to work at pace to ensure compliance with its statutory duty to accommodate asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute.