§ Mr. CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his estimate of(a) the cost to each local authority of subsistence payments to asylum seekers since January 1997 and (b) the number of people each authority has made payments to. [13671]
§ Mr. BoatengThe information requested is not comprehensively available for the period January 1997 to date. Three special grants were made available to local authorities for 1996–97 in respect of their expenditure on support for: adults, families and unaccompanied children. The table below details the amount of grant paid to individual authorities for supporting adult asylum seekers and unaccompanied children in 1996–97 and the estimated expenditure incurred from 1 January to 31 March 1997 by authorities claiming a grant for supporting asylum seeking families.
Grants will be available for 1997–98 subject to Parliamentary approval. Full details of authorities' expenditure will not be known until claims for the grants are received.
Information is collected week by week on the numbers being supported by authorities in London. The latest available information, for the week ending 17 October, is that London authorities were supporting 6,707 single adults and 4,006 families (for some authorities the latest information was for a prior week and has been included in the total with no change). Regular data on the numbers of asylum seekers accommodated are not provided by authorities outside London.
76W
Grants paid to local authorities in 1996–97 Local authority Grant paid to local authorities in 1996–97 for supporting asylum seeking adults £ Estimated cost to local authorities in supporting asylum seeking families 1 January to 31 March 1997 £ Grant paid to Local authorities in 1996–97 for supporting unaccompanied children £ Barking and Dagenham 19,334.53 Barnet 61,898.53 253,429.00 Barnsley 1,534.96 Berkshire 40,171.00 Bexley 6,699.01 Birmingham 14,842.98 Brent 326,173.35 256,392.00 Bromley 3,283.57 Buckinghamshire 1,909.99 Cambridgeshire 24,319.00 Camden 612,150.00 308,054.00 City of York 820.71 Cornwall 2,831.88 Corporation of London 33,000.00 25,490.00 2,044.00 Croydon 177,987.69 208,716.00 Dorset 660.00 Ealing 131,596.00 140,800.00 East Sussex 9,219.44 Enfield 11,881.90 113,300.00 Gateshead 1,554.12 Greenwich 26,086.73 Hackney 186,658.54 101,750.00
Grants paid to local authorities in 1996–97 Local authority Grant paid to local authorities in 1996– for supporting asylum seeking adults £ Estimatd cost to local authorities in supporting asylum seeking families 1 January to 31 March 1997 £ Grant paid to local authorities in 1996–97 for supporting unaccompainied children £ Hammersmith and Fulham 536,021.00 284,815.00 Hampshire 500.24 Haringey 177,045.00 238,917.00 Harrow 224,547.00 89,533.00 Hereford and Worcester 2,414.54 Hertfordshire 11,628.07 Hillingdon 15,613.75 2,224,300.00 Hounslow 26,331.65 110,646.00 Islington 186,285.00 36,850.00 Kensington and Chelsea 346,823.39 138,167.00 425,986.00 Kingston 12,527.00 Lambeth 531,480.00 187,876.00 Leeds 15,345.00 Leicester 3,737.50 Lewisham 117,383.00 111,000.00 Lincolnshire 1,052.36 Manchester 19,225.28 Merton 57,820.66 44,785.00 Middlesborough 3,926.77 Newcastle 8,403.97 Newham 84,476.33 588,623.00 Northampton 990.00 Oxfordshire 15,510.00 Redbridge 82,283.00 237,200.00 Richmond upon Thames 13,397.17 Rochdale 480.00 Southwark 222,090.00 233,881.00 Suffolk 2,778.00 Sutton 23,203.51 Tower Hamlets 120,210.00 125,300.00 Waltham Forest 20,774.72 70,773.00 Wandsworth 104,795.00 208,131.00 West Sussex 6,793.03 Westminster 936,344.04 152,077.00 347,669.00 Total 5,626,849.91 4,266,416.00 2,999,999.00 Total figures may not be exact due to rounding.