Recommendation 20

We received written evidence regarding the health and well-being themes for initial accommodation residents in Birmingham, which told us that the Department’s plans to commission additional contingency hotel sites to accommodate asylum seekers were not shared in a reasonable timeframe. It also told us that the plans were not subject to any form of consultation, making the joint planning of health and well-being services incredibly challenging for the agencies involved.54 We asked about the situation in Brent, where we heard that the provider gave a week’s notice to the local authority for using a hotel for 160 asylum seekers, but did not notify the local health commissioner, nor inform it of the asylum seekers’ specific health needs. We asked whether the Department would commit to contacting local care commissioning groups and local GPs before moving asylum seekers into their areas so that their medical needs can be properly catered for. The Department accepted that it needed to improve how it works with local partners.55 It said it had recently set up a group to work with local authority chief executives to take a strategic approach to redistributing asylum seekers, as well as improving engagement with local communities and local authorities.56 Safety and security of asylum seekers