Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 10
10
Paragraph: 48
The Home Office must take appropriate action, including contract variation if necessary, to ensure room...
Conclusion
The Home Office must take appropriate action, including contract variation if necessary, to ensure room sharing across the whole estate is phased out. The Department must also ensure that additional accommodation obtained to meet this requirement is of a high quality and fit for purpose. Fulfilment of this recommendation will provide an opportunity for the Home Office to pursue its commitment to a more equitable and sustainable system by expanding the areas participating in dispersal.
Paragraph Reference:
48
Government Response
Rejected
HM Government
Rejected
The Home Office and its accommodation providers take the welfare of service users seriously and agree that accommodation should be provided that is appropriate to individual needs. There are strict criteria set out in the Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts regarding when room sharing can take place and who can share a room. Under the contracts, providers must also comply with local regulations including advice from social services and primary and secondary care bodies on whether room sharing is inappropriate for individual cases. As a result, room sharing for vulnerable persons and expectant mothers is prohibited under the contracts even if permitted under local authority licensing. Throughout the recent pandemic, providers have delivered services in accordance with Public Health guidance which has recommended that moves of people already in asylum accommodation should be minimised but that people entering the system should not be placed into rooms shared with unrelated adults where appropriate mitigations against the risk of COVID-19 are not in place. Our providers have confirmed that those who have entered the system post lockdown and are accommodated in hotels do not share with unrelated adults. We will review the position on this in line with any changes to the guidance. Providers have also ensured that those with underlying health conditions and people over 70 years of age have also been moved to the appropriate accommodation following this guidance, unless individuals did not wish to be moved. We will continue to review each case on an individual basis and to work with our providers to ensure the guidance is followed. In accordance with housing legislation, room sharing for unrelated adults occurs in other housing sectors and is not limited to supported asylum seekers. There are currently no plans to make contractual changes to end room sharing for unrelated asylum-seeking adults and we do not agree that further restrictions on the types of accommodation that can be used would assist providers in their efforts to the secure the level of suitable longer term dispersal accommodation that is currently required. In accordance with our published policy, the Home Office will continue to carefully consider all requests on a case by case basis from asylum seekers who may have vulnerabilities, care needs or health problems that necessitate a need for a specific location or specialist accommodation requirements. 4 Home Office preparedness for COVID-19 (coronavirus): institutional accommodation: