Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking with contractors to ensure that asylum seekers receive adequate accommodation.

The Home Office and it’s accommodation providers take the welfare of service users seriously.

The accommodation provided is safe, habitable, fit for purpose and correctly equipped and it is also required to comply with the Decent Homes Standard in addition to standards outlined in relevant national or local housing legislation. Where providers are found not to meet these standards, appropriate action is taken to hold providers to account and resolve concerns.

The Home Office is in daily contact with service providers to ensure that the Government continues to meet its statutory obligation to house destitute asylum seekers and to ensure that all contracted support services are delivered, and service users are housed safely. This is in addition to the monthly and quarterly formal performance boards.