HC Deb 23 January 2002 vol 378 cc937-8W
Simon Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers received advice or assistance from each of the reception assistance agencies in relation to their application to the National Asylum Support Service in(a) 2000–01 and (b) the current financial year to date. [28891]

Angela Eagle

Voluntary sector agencies are grant funded by the Home Office to assist asylum seekers who need to make an application for support. The number of asylum seekers assisted by reception assistants from individual agencies is as follows:

3 April 2000 to 31 March 2001 1 1 April 2001 to 31 December 2001 2
Refugee Council 17,373 19,391
Migrant Helpline 12,894 8,845
Refugee Arrivals Project 5,554 4,337
Refugee Action 2,717 2,456
Scottish Refugee Council 504 425
Welsh Refugee Council 150 164
Total 39,192 35,618
1 based on information provided by the voluntary sector agencies
2 provisional

Simon Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will provide a breakdown of the amount of grant made to each of the reception assistance agencies by the National Asylum Support Service under section 111 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 in (a) 2000–01 and (b) the current financial year to date. [28780]

Angela Eagle

The level of grant paid by the Home Office to the voluntary sector organisations is as follows:

£
2000–01 1,3 2001–02 2,3
Refugee Council 7,934,000 10,038,000
Refugee Action 2,290,000 3,246,000
Migrant Helpline 2,094,000 2,587,000
Refugee Arrivals Project 1,913,000 1,971,000
Scottish Refugee Council 595,000 743,000
Welsh Refugee Council 343,000 200,000
1 Information based on outturn figure.
2 Information based on estimate of outturn figure.
3 Excludes payments for provision of emergency accommodation.

Simon Hughes

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total cost was of providing(a) accommodation and (b) emergency accommodation under the National Asylum Support Service-run asylum support system in (i) 2000–01 and (ii) in the current financial year to date. [28781]

Angela Eagle

The total cost of(a) accommodation paid for directly under contract by the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) for (i) 2000–01 was £54.1 million and for (ii) current year to 30 November £150.1 million, and (b) emergency accommodation for (i) 2000–01 was £27.5 million and for (ii) current year to 30 November £38.2 million.

These figures reflect the increased activity undertaken by the NASS since it began operation on the 3 April 2000.

Costs in 2000–01 are cash based and for current year resource based. All figures are rounded to nearest £0.1 million.