Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, If she will make an assessment of the potential merits of allowing all asylum seekers to work.

Asylum seekers can work in the UK in occupations from the Shortage Occupation List if their claim has been outstanding for 12 months or more, through no fault of their own.

Asylum seekers can volunteer, so long as it does not amount to unpaid work. There are safe & legal routes to work in the UK under the Points Based System.

- The Home Office deployed over 300 immigration officers on a record breaking 140 enforcement visits in one day, resulting in 95 arrests.

- In the first quarter of 2023, Immigration Enforcement teams delivered 1,303 enforcement visits, a 57% increase on the same period last year