Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what correspondence her Department had with Birmingham City Council in advance of the implementation of the asylum dispersal scheme.
Birmingham has been a dispersal area for a number of years, and we do not hold records of the engagement held.
With regards to current dispersal, the Home Office is working in partnership with Local Authority Chief Executives through the Home Office Local Government Chief Executive group’s, who have agreed a change plan, that seeks to achieve a more equitable dispersal of asylum seekers across the UK and seeks to overcome barriers to ensure availability of service provision.
The plan has been paused in light of the current covid-19 crisis but will resume once restrictions on accommodation moves have been lifted.