Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of moving children staying in contingency asylum accommodation to another area on (a) those children and (b) their education; and if she will take steps to keep children in the same area once they have been moved into contingency or initial asylum accommodation.

The use of contingency accommodation is only ever a short-term solution to ensure that we meet our statutory obligation to house destitute asylum seekers.

Successive years of record numbers crossing the channel has meant that the Home Office has had to deal with growing demand for asylum support with reduced accommodation services.

Children in contingency accommodation who are part of a family group will move with the family as and when they are relocated. Accommodation is offered on a no-choice basis across the United Kingdom. There are established mechanisms in place if individuals have a specific, acute need to be accommodated in a particular area. These mechanisms are supported by Migrant Help and asylum support casework teams.

Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children will be accommodated in dedicated hotels until they are moved into local authority care.