Asylum Seekers Accommodation and Safeguarding

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Thanked the Minister for efforts to reduce overcrowding at Manston and confirmed his belief that it should remain a processing centre, not accommodation. He asked if temporary facilities would be dismantled and requested additional accommodation ahead of an expected spike in November.

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Critiqued the Home Secretary's handling of asylum seekers, noting a backlog and legal advice ignored, leading to overcrowding at Manston. Asked about missing children and adherence to legal advice.

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The Minister will be well aware that previous student accommodation at Canterbury Christchurch University—86 rooms—has been taken up by a company called Clearsprings, one of many outsourced companies around the country. The Home Office must get involved when these large sites are selected.

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Surely we have now reached the point where the Home Office can no longer be left responsible for the safety of those children. Hundreds are missing and thousands more are stuck in hotels outside the child protection system.

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The question is not how many hotels we can book, but how we can stop the increasing number of migrants coming across the channel. What about an agreement that allowed Germany to deport Albanians who did not arrive with a valid residence permit?

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Tomorrow, the Home Affairs Committee will visit Manston on its second visit. Can the Minister explain to the House the legal basis for detaining individuals at Manston for longer than 24 hours?

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When I hear talk of sourcing housing and getting extra hotel spaces for illegal immigrants, it leaves a bitter taste in my throat. Five thousand people in Ashfield want to secure council housing but cannot get it.

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Inquires about the sexual assault of children in hotels and requests for details on incidents, action taken, and safeguarding measures.

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Asks about measures to surge Home Office processing capacity and address backlogs.

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Queries about conditions at Manston and safeguarding of unaccompanied children.

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Raises concerns about hotels housing asylum seekers in her constituency and requests a timetable for their closure.

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Asks for assurance that speed of decision-making will not compromise efficiency or fairness.

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Inquires about urgent legislation to address loopholes exploited by people smugglers and economic migrants, and hotel use concerns.

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Asks about additional recruitment within the Home Office for asylum claim processing.

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Requests assurance that steps are being taken to address asylum claim processing speed and impact on tourism.

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Will the Minister confirm that to seek asylum is a perfectly legal thing within international law and, therefore, UK law? He also inquired about the Council of Europe report on pushbacks across Europe and asked if Britain would not be involved in sea-bound pushbacks towards France.

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He raised concerns about a new asylum centre being opened without proper consultation and asked for a meeting to discuss how such decisions can be reviewed and reversed.

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She criticised recent incidents involving asylum seekers at Manston camp, Victoria station, and child refugees being sexually assaulted, asking how these shameful examples would be rectified.

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Concerned about asylum seekers being dropped off at Victoria coach station in her constituency without proper support.

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She raised concerns about the conditions in hotels housing refugees and asylum seekers, describing them as dire with issues like overcrowding, poor food quality, and bedbug infestations.

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He expressed concerns about safeguarding citizens living near hotels housing asylum seekers.

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She highlighted issues with missing children, school placements, and sexual assaults against children in Home Office accommodation.

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My right hon. Friend will know of my deep unease about the use of a hotel in Ashford, which has been opened recently, as part of the dispersal from Manston, so I was pleased to hear him say that he wants to exit from hotel use altogether. That would be a welcome step forward. In the transition period before he can achieve that, will he ensure that the Home Office takes more account in the future than it has in the past of the relative level of pressure on public services, such as health and education, in different parts of the country of coping with extra demand from asylum seekers?

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Can the Minister explain what discussions have been held with the Children’s Commissioner regarding this Government’s staggering levels of child neglect? Can he also say why the commissioner has not been encouraged to use her statutory powers to visit Manston and the hotels concerned to speak directly with the children there?

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The Home Office is accommodating 400 asylum seekers in the Metropole Hotel in the centre of Blackpool in my constituency. It lies in Claremont, the fourth most deprived ward in the country—an area with a host of social problems and a difficult history of child sexual exploitation. Those problems were pointed out by me and the council when the hotel was first commissioned by the Home Office. Those issues have not changed, and dispersal from the hotel has been slow. I welcome the fact that the Minister is going to exit the strategy of using hotels, but will he make sure that the Metropole is the first hotel that he exits?

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The unsafe conditions and overcrowding at Manston have been totally unacceptable, but the serious allegations of assault on our children are beyond unacceptable. We also learned last week that people seeking asylum were dropped off in Victoria, London. We know that the Home Secretary is out of her depth and failing on this, but will the Minister say how many children were left unaccompanied last week? More importantly, given the scale of the crisis, is it not time that we had an independent investigation that can look into this serious issue and robustly report back on the ongoing challenges that face the Home Office?

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This whole situation is a farce. There were recent reports that illegal migrants were being put up in a luxury rural hotel—a former stately home near Grantham—that normally charges £400 a night. Surely the easier and quicker that we make this whole process, the more people will come, especially since it is a complete pushover, with a large number of young Albanian men claiming modern slavery, which is ridiculous. Will the Minister confirm that the solution is to repeal the Human Rights Act, get out of the European refugee convention and repeal the Modern Slavery Act 2015, so that people can be detained when they arrive for being involved in an illegal activity and then deported?

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Contrary to some of the dangerous, disgusting, dog-whistle, right-wing rhetoric emanating from some members of the Conservative party, asylum seekers are people and we should judge ourselves on how we treat our fellow man. In that regard, the Minister will be aware that many people in hotels in Aberdeen have been in that situation for well in excess of a year, waiting for their asylum applications to be processed. When can we expect that particular issue to be resolved?

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The town of Stocksbridge in my constituency is awaiting final confirmation of £24 million of Government funding through our town deal. That £24 million will be a transformational sum for Stocksbridge, but it equates to just four days of taxpayer expenditure on hotel accommodation for people who have arrived illegally in the UK. Does my right hon. Friend agree that as well as being a complex security and humanitarian issue both for the public and for genuine asylum seekers, the small boats crisis also represents a serious financial issue in these difficult economic times? Can he expand on his previous answer about how the Government will move away from the expensive hotel model?

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I was not quite clear what the Minister meant in his response earlier to the Chair of the Select Committee, my right hon. Friend the Member for Kingston upon Hull North (Dame Diana Johnson). Is it his position that the Government acted legally in detaining migrants at Manston for more than 24 hours?

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Our former Labour colleague Chris Mullin is one of the most thoughtful left-wingers I know. Would the Minister take a moment or two to have a look at his article in the press today and commend it to people on both sides of the House, given that even he feels it necessary to conclude that “uncontrolled migration risks bringing down our fragile social systems”?

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I wish to raise the situation in Harmondsworth detention centre in my constituency after the events at the weekend. I am grateful to the Minister for the call that we had over the weekend. My understanding from what he told me yesterday is that Harmondsworth has now been decanted.

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My constituents are becoming sick and tired of this ridiculous narrative of economic migrants somehow being mistreated at Manston. The fact of the matter is that after a short time at the processing centre, these economic migrants will receive free food and free accommodation in hotels—something that my constituents, who are paying for all this, can only dream of.

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In an exchange last week relating to the situation at Manston, the Home Secretary told the House: ‘I have never ignored legal advice.’—[Official Report, 31 October 2022; Vol. 721, c. 639.] Has the Minister been briefed, seen any information in his Department or been told by any colleagues any information that would show that that was not a correct statement to this House?

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This issue is important to my Guildford constituents and important to me. Does my right hon. Friend agree that by controlling illegal immigration we can ensure that we have the capacity and the facilities to offer safe and legal routes for vulnerable people across the world, as we have done for people in Ukraine, Hong Kong, Syria and Afghanistan?

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I thank the Minister for his answers to the questions, which are difficult and complex. Tensions are rising as the temperatures are dropping in the United Kingdom, and the Government are intending to pay out large amounts of money for heating, but I am concerned that ill feeling towards migrants is growing as people mistake legal asylum-seeking for illegal immigration.

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One of the locations hosting migrants in my constituency is the Fownes Hotel, and notwithstanding the fact that I expressed concerns about its suitability, I was particularly concerned to hear from my council about a number of children being taken into care from that location. My right hon. Friend mentioned an incentive package for councils.

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Inhumane centres and overcrowded, let alone unsafe hotels are no place to put these very vulnerable families. In light of the success of the Homes for Ukraine scheme, why will the Home Office Minister not undertake to have a homes for refugees and asylum seekers scheme, so that people can be settled in communities, supported and kept safe?

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I appreciate the challenge that my right hon. Friend and the Department are facing, but we can solve the problem of accommodation by stopping illegal entry into this country in the first place. Therefore, will he please, on behalf of my very frustrated constituents, leave no stone unturned in finding a solution to this problem and stopping illegal entry?

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Suggests that the Government could save money by extending the right to work for asylum seekers, arguing it would make them more self-sufficient and address labour shortages.

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Expresses concern over modern slavery laws being abused for economic migrants and calls for a review to ensure it is fit for purpose.

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Asked why the Government did not abandon asylum seekers in Manston rather than keep them for weeks, questioning whether legal advice was published.

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Asked the Minister to look into measures to ensure that other parts of the country help provide accommodation for refugees, pointing out Stoke-on-Trent’s significant burden.

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Stressed the importance of engaging local authorities before implementing new policies to avoid fuelling intolerance.

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Asked why the Government cannot take similar measures as Italy to protect borders and people from foreign criminal gangs.

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Compared the treatment of illegal immigrants in the UK to conditions elsewhere in Europe and questioned the Opposition’s stance on accommodation standards.

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Asked for clarity about the Rwanda policy implementation timeline and how the new Bill of Rights could support it.

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Suggested prioritising legitimate routes for asylum seekers and ensuring that illegal entrants face detention and deportation.

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During my brief tenure this summer as the Minister for tackling illegal migration, I visited Manston. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the staff working at Manston deserve our praise for the excellent care and attention they give in their work, particularly as it often takes place in very challenging circumstances?