HC Deb 31 October 1995 vol 265 cc179-80W
Mr. Corbyn

To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the number of housing applicants, for each local authority, refused permanent housing due to being asylum seekers since the introduction of the Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act 1993. [39882]

Mr. Clappison

[holding answer 27 October 19951: Under the Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act 1993, asylum seekers found to be statutorily homeless by a local housing authority are entitled only to temporary accommodation for as long as they remain an asylum seeker. Data are collected from local authorities in England on their activities under the homelessness provisions of the Housing Act 1985 on a quarterly basis.

I have today placed in the Library a table of the reported data on applicants registered with the Home Office as an asylum seeker and found to be statutorily homeless between January 1994 and June 1995. Such data were not collected prior to January 1994.

Information about the number of asylum seekers who have applied to register on a housing waiting list is not held centrally.