Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate her Department has made of the number of additional dwellings that would be needed to provide housing for asylum seekers following the reduction in the use of hotel and hostel accommodation for that purpose; and whether her Department classifies (a) former care homes, (b) houses in multiple occupation and (c) former student communal accommodation as (i) hotel and (ii) hostel accommodation for the purposes of her target for reducing the use of such accommodation.

The Home Office continues to work with a range of stakeholders and consider a range of options to fulfil its statutory obligations, and deliver our commitment to reduce overall cost of asylum accommodation, including the use of hotels over time.