Asylum: Housing
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 16 June 2026 to Question 7707 on Asylum: Housing, what data her Department holds on the time taken between consultation with local authorities and final approval of asylum accommodation placements; and whether she will publish that data.
Answered by Alex Norris
The Home Office has a legal obligation to support asylum seekers who would otherwise be destitute and is committed to ensuring the system operates in a fair, efficient and sustainable way.
We work closely with local authorities when procuring and using dispersed accommodation under the Asylum Accommodation and Support Services Contract. Engagement with local partners is an important part of assessing whether a property is suitable, alongside other operational and contractual considerations.
The Department does not routinely collect or hold centrally aggregated data on the time taken between consultation with local authorities regarding procurement of accommodation and final approval of individual accommodation placements. In practice, these timelines can vary depending on the specific circumstances of each case, including the nature of the accommodation and local factors.
Data, published quarterly, on the number of supported asylum seekers in accommodation, broken down by local authority can be found within the Asy_D11 tab of our most recent statistics release.
Immigration system statistics data tables - GOV.UK(opens in a new tab)
Our approach to data collection and publication is continually reviewed to ensure suitable information sharing.
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