Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to increase the volume of suitable accommodation in which people seeking asylum are housed.

We have established the Local Government Chief Executive Group (HOLGCEX) group to bring together senior representatives from Home Office, Local Government Association and local authorities with the aim of working in partnership to improve the asylum dispersal process for the people who use this service and the communities in which they reside.

With the support of local authorities we, and our housing providers, are continuing to engage with areas which to date have not participated in asylum dispersal with a view to negotiating voluntary agreements to do so.

We are grateful to those local authorities who participate in the dispersal scheme and will continue to work in partnership with them to procure suitable accommodation.

Sadly, many local authorities do not currently participate in the dispersal scheme, making it harder to procure sufficient dispersal accommodation. I would encourage them to step up and play their part in the UK-wide effort to provide accommodation to those seeking asylum who would otherwise be destitute.