Source · Select Committees · Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 22
22
Accepted in Part
Paragraph: 139
Home Office compliance failures endanger pregnant asylum seekers and new mothers during accommodation moves.
Conclusion
The Home Office is too often failing to comply with guidance on moving pregnant women and new mothers between asylum accommodation settings. The guidance is clear that such moves are potentially harmful and should only be made where advice on safety has first been sought from a clinician and acted on. We heard that the health of mothers and babies has been put at risk, with moves taking place within days of women’s due dates and shortly after births. This is dangerous and unacceptable. There is a lack of data on pregnant women in the system by which to monitor the Home Office’s compliance with its own guidance.
Government response summary AI-generated
The government acknowledges the vulnerability of pregnant women and new mothers and states that it has updated internal guidance to make clear the requirement to record and monitor moves of these women between asylum accommodation settings.
Summary of the government's response below — read the verbatim text to verify.
Paragraph Reference:
139
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government · verbatim extract
Accepted in Part
The Home Office must stop moving pregnant women and new mothers between asylum accommodation settings unless clinical advice has been sought and acted on, the mother has consented to a move, and it is in the mother’s and baby’s best interests. The Home Office must collect and publish data on the number of pregnant asylum-seeking women and new mothers in the asylum system, the category of accommodation in which they are living, the number of times they are moved, and in which trimester, and whether on each occasion clinical advice was sought and acted on.
Read the full response on Parliament ↗