Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the contract his Department awarded to Migrant Help to provide assistance to those seeking asylum, (a) how many cases have been referred to Migrant Help by the Home Office, and (b) how many replies have been received from Migrant Help within the target response time.

The Home Office introduced the Advice Issue Reporting and Eligibility (AIRE) service, as operated by Migrant Help, to provide an independent resource for asylum seekers to request help, report issues and property defects, provide feedback or make complaints.

Asylum seekers are able to contact Migrant Help 24/7 by telephone, webchat or email, and there are strict service level agreements in place to resolving contacts, dependent on issue type. The contract has a range of Key Performance Indicators by which performance in all areas is reported on and monitored. Details of the AIRE contract is found at AIRE - Advice Issue Reporting and Eligibility - Contracts Finder.

As Migrant Help provide a range of services via multiple channels to a large cohort, to provide the information requested could only be done at a disproportionate cost.