In January 2017 the Home Affairs Select Committee slammed the existing system for accommodating people seeking asylum as a disgrace and called for the Government to take immediate action to rectify the situation.

The report followed a year long Inquiry into the way people who are waiting for a decision on their asylum claim are housed. People who are in the asylum process are prevented from working and instead are forced to rely on the Government to provide them with somewhere safe to sleep until they receive a decision on their asylum claim.

Ten months later, the Government has responded to the Committee report and today published their response, as you can see here [PDF].

In response to this, Maurice Wren, Chief Executive of the Refugee Council, has said:

“The Government’s response is extremely disappointing. It fails to engage with the Committee’s very serious findings—findings that reflect the all-too-common experiences of people seeking asylum who are crammed into unfit, unsafe, unsanitary housing.

“When the Committee published its report back in January, it recognised where there had been areas of improvement but rightly called for the Government to take immediate action on solving the issues it found. It is incredibly disappointing that this response, 10 months on, seemingly fails to accept there is still a problem.

“People seeking asylum have come to the UK looking for protection. They need to have their dignity and rights upheld and be housed in accommodation that is safe, habitable and appropriate to their needs. Despite the warm words, today’s response from the Government will do little to ensure that happens.”