Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to asylum seekers who are in contingency accommodation in hotels, what training staff in those hotels receive to help them in dealing with traumatised people; and who is responsible for overseeing the treatment of residents by staff in those hotels.

The Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts (AASC), set out clearly what the Home Office requires of its accommodation providers, including requirements in relation to our customers welfare and needs. All of this is set out in the Statement of Requirements which can be found here:

Schedule 2

In addition to the AASC contracts, the Home Office also provides the Advice, Issue Reporting and Eligibility (AIRE) service, to act as a primary point of contact for asylum seekers, which is available 24 hours a day to provide advice, guidance, and support to asylum seekers whilst they are within our care. Details of the services that are provided under AIRE can be found here:

AIRE Contract

The Home Office monitors providers closely to ensure the requirements we set out in our contracts are being delivered, this includes physically inspecting contingency sites. In addition, the Independent Chief Inspector, in his recent inspection of contingency accommodation, also inspected contingency sites and found the providers were delivering the services we require of them.

Asylum seekers have access to health and social care services from the point of arrival in the UK and the Home Office and its contractors work closely with the NHS, Local Authorities and Non-Governmental Organisations to ensure people can access the healthcare and support they need. All accommodation providers have a duty and requirement to assist people who need it to access healthcare. The ICIBI saw evidence in their recent inspections that accommodation providers were assisting people to access the support they need.

Details of the training requirements of all AASC provider staff are contained within the AASC Statement of Requirements and in addition to our assurance of provider training material the ICIBI saw evidence on their inspections that staff had received the basic training and there was evidence face-to-face staff had received enhanced training.