David Simmonds MP: written questions 2025
375 published records · newest first.
Written questions
Asylum: HousingHome OfficeTabled 22 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 46902More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) asylum seekers and (b) refugees are housed in accommodation procured by Serco by local authority.
Answer: Under the current Asylum Accommodation and Support Contracts, Serco provides accommodation in the North West and Midlands and East of England regions; Mears provides accommodation in Scotland, Northern Ireland and the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber;...
Answered 30 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordAsylum: HotelsHome OfficeTabled 22 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 46901More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 27 March 2025 to Question 40190, on Asylum: Hotels, if she will publish each letter sent to each local authority chief executive since 4 July 2024.
Answer: The Home Office does not routinely publish correspondence on operational matters.In addition, it has been the longstanding policy of the Home Office under successive governments not to comment publicly on individual hotels which may or may not be utilised...
Answered 30 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordAsylum: HousingHome OfficeTabled 22 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 46900More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 7 April 2025 to Question 43097 on Asylum: Housing, how many dwellings have been procured via Cushman and Wakefield by local authority; and what the cost of those dwellings is
Answer: The Home Office is working closely with a range of stakeholders to fulfil its statutory obligations, while seeking to reduce the overall cost of asylum accommodation for the taxpayer.As part of this programme, the Home Office works with its contracted est...
Answered 30 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordOffences against Children: ReviewsHome OfficeTabled 22 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 46899More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 14 February 2025 to Question 29611 on Offences against Children: Reviews, how many local inquiries will be supported; and at what average cost.
Answer: I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave on 7 April to Question UIN 44574, and to the responses I gave in Parliament on 28 April.The Home Secretary has commissioned Baroness Louise Casey to conduct an audit to improve national understanding of the scal...
Answered 1 May 2025
Original Parliament recordOffences against ChildrenHome OfficeTabled 22 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 46898More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish correspondence sent to local authorities on (a) accessing funding for locally-led work on grooming gangs and (b) the conditions of funding.
Answer: I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave on 7 April to Question UIN 44574, and to the responses I gave in Parliament on 28 April.The Home Secretary has commissioned Baroness Louise Casey to conduct an audit to improve national understanding of the scal...
Answered 1 May 2025
Original Parliament recordOffences against Children: ReviewsHome OfficeTabled 22 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 46897More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when Baroness Casey will report on the national audit into grooming gangs.
Answer: I refer the Hon Member to the answer I gave on 7 April to Question UIN 44574, and to the responses I gave in Parliament on 28 April.The Home Secretary has commissioned Baroness Louise Casey to conduct an audit to improve national understanding of the scal...
Answered 1 May 2025
Original Parliament recordRefugees: Temporary AccommodationMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 22 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 46896More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information her Department holds on the number of former foreign national asylum seekers granted (a) refugee status and (b) settlement claiming (i) emergency homeless and (i
Answer: The most recent statutory homelessness statistics (July – September 2024) is available at: Homelessness statistics - GOV.UK, which includes former asylum seeker households that are owed a homelessness duty.
Answered 30 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordRefugees: Social Rented HousingMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 22 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 46895More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what information her Department holds on the number of former foreign national asylum seekers granted (a) refugee status and (b) settlement claiming social housing.
Answer: My Department does not hold information on former foreign national asylum seekers claiming social housing who were formally granted refugee status and/or settlement. The Department’s social housing lettings in England statistical series includes informati...
Answered 30 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordAsylum: CostsHome OfficeTabled 22 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 46894More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average cost to the public purse is of an asylum seeker.
Answer: The Home Office’s publicly available transparency data sets out the annual costs of asylum support. The most recent data, covering the year 2023/24, can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-and-protection-data-q4-2024.
Answered 30 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordAsylum: Local GovernmentHome OfficeTabled 22 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 46893More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 10 February 2025 to Question 28146 on Asylum: Local Government, what data her Department holds on funding to local councils in England for (a) asylum seekers and (b) refugees
Answer: Funding provided to Local Authorities by the Home Office in respect of asylum & resettlement is made in the form of grant payments.As per the most recent published Cabinet Office grant data, in financial year 2023-24 these Home Office grants totalled ...
Answered 30 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordAsylum: HousingHome OfficeTabled 22 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 46892More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, which contractors provide accommodation services for (a) asylum seekers and (b) refugees for her Department.
Answer: The Home Office’s asylum accommodation services are delivered under contracts by Serco, Mears, Clearsprings Ready Homes and Corporate Travel Management. These contracts were entered into by our predecessors.The Home Office does not have any contractors pr...
Answered 30 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordAsylum: Temporary AccommodationTreasuryTabled 22 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 46891More
Question: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to her Department's guidance entitled Terms of reference for VfM Study on procuring short-term residential accommodation, published on 11 March 2025, how much local authorities have spent on procuring
Answer: The provision of asylum support, including accommodation, is the responsibility of the Home Office, not of local authorities. Local authorities do not provide any funding for asylum support. The Home Office’s total expenditure on asylum accommodation in 2...
Answered 30 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordAsylum: HotelsHome OfficeTabled 22 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 46890More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to her Department's guidance entitled Terms of reference for VfM Study on procuring short-term residential accommodation, published on 11 March 2025, how much the Home Office spent on h
Answer: The Home Office publishes information on asylum expenditure in the Home Office Annual Report and Accounts at Home Office annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK(opens in a new tab).
Answered 1 May 2025
Original Parliament recordLocal Government FinanceMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 22 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 46889More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if she will make it her policy to replace the Exceptional Financial Support regime with long term debt-restructuring.
Answer: We are under no illusion about the fragile state of the sector and the pressures that some councils are facing, and recognise the potential for continued instability as we work to fix the foundations of local government. That is why we have a framework in...
Answered 29 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordSocial SecurityDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 17 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 45954More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of welfare reforms announced in the Spring Statement 2025 on local authority finances.
Answer: No assessment has been made. A further programme of analysis to support development of the proposals in the Green Paper will be developed and undertaken in the coming months.
Answered 29 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordLocal Government FinanceMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 17 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 45953More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to account for housing costs when measuring deprivation as part of local government funding reform.
Answer: The English Indices for Deprivation are a designated National Statistic. They have demonstrated, through assessment, that they meet the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value, set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics by the Office for Stati...
Answered 28 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordDeprivation IndicatorsMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 17 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 45952More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of reliability of the Index of Multiple Deprivation to accurately reflect levels of deprivation and need.
Answer: The English Indices for Deprivation are a designated National Statistic. They have demonstrated, through assessment, that they meet the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value, set out in the Code of Practice for Statistics by the Office for Stati...
Answered 28 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordHomelessness: FinanceMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 17 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 45951More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has made an assessment of the merits of introducing a separate needs formula for homelessness.
Answer: The previous government committed to improving and updating the way in which local authorities are funded through the “fair funding review” - but this was not delivered. We will make good on this commitment and implement long-awaited reforms through a mul...
Answered 28 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordLocal Government Finance: Greater LondonMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 17 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 45950More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of local authority finances in London.
Answer: The Local Government Finance Settlement for 2025-26 makes available up to £13.35 billion for London, including the GLA. This is a £726 million increase on 2024-25, representing a 5.8% cash terms increase. The Department works closely with local government...
Answered 29 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordLocal Government FinanceMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 17 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 45949More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the exceptional financial support regime for local authorities.
Answer: The government is under no illusion about the fragile state of the sector and the pressures that some councils are facing to deliver for residents. We also recognise the potential for continued instability as we work to fix the foundations of local govern...
Answered 28 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordTemporary Accommodation: CostsDepartment for Work and PensionsTabled 17 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 45948More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of the cap on the amount councils can claim to meet temporary accommodation costs on local authority finances.
Answer: We continue to keep the rates used for Housing Benefit subsidy under review and are working closely with MHCLG and the Inter-Ministerial Group on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping to explore the impacts of subsidy rates on local authorities.Any future decis...
Answered 28 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordGreater London AuthorityMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 17 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 45947More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions she has had with the Mayor of London on the role of councils in London in integrated settlements for the Greater London Authority.
Answer: At Autumn Budget 2024 the Government committed to exploring how the Integrated Settlement policy could be applied for the Greater London Authority from the 2026-27 financial year onwards, taking into account the capital’s unique devolution arrangements. T...
Answered 29 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordGreater London AuthorityMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 17 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 45946More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she has had discussions with (a) London Councils and (b) individual councils in London on a joint decision-making role in integrated settlements for the Greater London Au
Answer: At Autumn Budget 2024 the Government committed to exploring how the Integrated Settlement policy could be applied for the Greater London Authority from the 2026-27 financial year onwards, taking into account the capital’s unique devolution arrangements. T...
Answered 29 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordGreater London AuthorityMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local GovernmentTabled 17 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 45945More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether she plans to give local authorities in London a joint decision-making role in integrated settlements for the Greater London Authority.
Answer: At Autumn Budget 2024 the Government committed to exploring how the Integrated Settlement policy could be applied for the Greater London Authority from the 2026-27 financial year onwards, taking into account the capital’s unique devolution arrangements. T...
Answered 29 Apr 2025
Original Parliament recordAsylum: Local GovernmentHome OfficeTabled 1 Apr 2025AnsweredUIN 43109More
Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with local authorities on the potential impact of the costs of supporting asylum seekers on the financial sustainability of local authorities.
Answer: This Government inherited an asylum system under exceptional strain, with tens of thousands of people stuck in limbo without any prospect of having their claims processed. At their peak use under the previous government, in the autumn of 2023, more than 4...
Answered 14 Apr 2025
Original Parliament record
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