Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the cost to the public purse was of the use of taxis by asylum seekers in each of the last five years.

Transport services for asylum seekers are provided through our Asylum Accommodation & Support Contracts. We pay a fixed rate for transportation services which is set out in the contracts. Our suppliers must deliver transportation requirements in line with contractual standards and the fixed rate – with the type of transportation determined by our suppliers within this framework. Information on spend by specific transportation types is therefore not readily available.