§ Mr. Gordon MarsdenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which public and private local bodies are always notified by the NASS of the individual addresses of accommodation into which asylum seekers have been placed. [147304]
§ Mrs. RocheThe regional consortia and police authorities in the appropriate dispersal areas are notified by National Asylum Support Service (NASS) on a weekly basis of allocated accommodation addresses. A consolidated list is despatched at the end of each month. In addition, allocated accommodation addresses are routinely notified to the appropriate local health and education authorities when NASS allocates asylum seekers to accommodation in their areas.
§ Mr. Gordon MarsdenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many units of accommodation procured by the NASS since 1 April 2000 have been procured by the NASS-contracted accommodation providers entering into sub-contracting arrangements with other organisations or individuals. [147302]
§ Mrs. RocheThe National Asylum Support Service (NASS) has entered into contracts for accommodation services with private sector providers, registered social landlords and local authority consortia. It is a feature of all these contracts that accommodation is provided either from providers own housing stock or through sub-contracts. NASS does not maintain records of the number of units provided through sub-contracts. All accommodation is required to comply with NASS contract specification and is inspected to ensure compliance.
§ Mr. Gordon MarsdenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if NASS allows contracted accommodation providers to place persons who do not form a single household into houses with less than six bed spaces in which all facilities are shared. [147306]
§ Mrs. RocheNational Asylum Support Service (NASS) may allocate persons who do not form a single household to properties with less than six bed spaces in which all facilities are shared. All property used by NASS that is shared by persons who do not form a single househould must comply with houses in multiple occupation registration and licensing schemes wherever they exist.
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§ Mr. Gordon MarsdenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff are allocated to the NASS Performance Monitoring Inspection Team; how many of these staff are engaged in personally inspecting accommodation and support arrangements; and where they are based. [147305]
§ Mrs. RocheThe current staffing level of the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) Performance Monitoring Inspection Team is one Head of Inspections, four Team Leaders, 15 Inspectors and six support staff.
All staff other than the six support staff are engaged in personally inspecting the accommodation and the support services that contractors are required to provide to NASS service users. At the present time, the Performance Monitoring Inspections Team is based at Quest House in Croydon.
§ Mr. Gordon MarsdenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many units of accommodation have been procured by NASS since 1 April 2000; and how many asylum seekers have been placed into this accommodation since then. [147303]
§ Mrs. RocheAs at the end of December 2000, 26,7001 units of accommodation were contracted by the National Asylum Support Service (NASS), of which 16,6001 units were allocated to asylum seekers and their dependants.
1Figures rounded to the nearest 100.
§ Mr. Gordon MarsdenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what targets have been set for the proportion of asylum seeker accommodation to be inspected by the NASS Performance Monitoring Inspection Team; and if these targets relate to accommodation of a particular bedspace size. [147307]
§ Mrs. RocheThe National Asylum Support Service Performance Monitoring Inspection team has no formal targets for the proportion of asylum seeker accommodation to be inspected; however, regular reviews of the management practices in place at accommodation providers are undertaken together with independent property inspections to ensure that accommodation services are provided to the required standard.
In addition, all complaints are resolved within a maximum of 28 days. Serious complaints are acted upon immediately.