Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate she has made of the number of people who have had their application for asylum refused but cannot legally be returned to their country of origin.

The government expects those who have been refused asylum and who have no lawful basis to remain in the UK to leave at the earliest opportunity. If there is a genuine obstacle that prevents a failed asylum seeker's departure from the UK and they are destitute, they can apply for support under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999. As of 31 December 2015, a total of 3,821 failed asylum seekers and their dependants were supported under section 4.