§ Lord Greavesasked Her Majesty's Government:
What services, other than accommodation, are provided to asylum seekers who are dispersed under the new arrangements in place since 3 April under the terms of the contracts with accommodation providers. [HL2931]
§ Lord Bassam of BrightonAccommodation providers are required to collect asylum seekers from a designated arrival point in the dispersal cluster area, transport them to their address and provide reception services sufficient to acquaint the asylum seeker with their accommodation. Providers must facilitate registration with a local general practitioner, a dentist and, for dependants aged five and under, a health visiting service. Where asylum seekers require immediate health care, providers are required to make immediate arrangements as appropriate. Additionally, providers are required to provide information to asylum seekers regarding health care, education, leisure, recreation, legal, police, emergency services, independent local advice services and the One Stop Service, a grant funded service provided by the voluntary sector giving advice and support to asylum seekers.
§ Lord Greavesasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the terms of the contracts with the providers of accommodation to asylum seekers who are dispersed under the new arrangements in place since 3 April will be varied so that local authorities, voluntary organisations and churches who wish to provide support to the asylum seekers in their areas may be provided with their names and addresses. [HL2932]
§ Lord Bassam of BrightonWe are not willing to provide for the routine disclosure of personal details of asylum seekers supported by the National Asylum Support Service to third parties. This would not be compatible with data protection legislation or our duty of confidentiality to asylum seekers. It is for that reason that we normally disclose personal information to a third party only with the consent of the asylum seeker.
We will provide information to other agencies and public organisations without seeking the consent of the asylum seeker where we judge this necessary so they can prevent, detect, investigate or prosecute criminal offences.
§ Lord Greavesasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will provide for asylum seekers to collect their vouchers from sub-post offices where they are the main post office in a town and where:
- (a) the distance to the nearest Crown Post Office is more than three miles; or
WA 61 - (b) the cost of a return journey by public transport to the nearest Crown Post Office is more than 50 pence [HL2934]
§ Lord Bassam of BrightonVouchers are distributed by Branch Post Offices operated by Post Office Counters Limited. While the £10 weekly cash voucher is redeemable only at the Post Office, Buy-Pass retail vouchers are redeemable in a network of over 18,000 retail outlets nationwide.
Over 600 post offices are currently in use to distribute vouchers. Others are being brought on stream as required, taking account of a range of factors, including cost and availability of public transport, numbers of asylum seekers likely to use proposed post offices, and possible future availability of further accommodation for asylum seekers in the area.