To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether any asylum seekers are housed in Castle Point constituency; and what her Department’s future plans are to house asylum seekers there. (263015)

I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave on 9 March 2009, Official Report, column 67W.

Further to that reply information on asylum is published annually and quarterly. Statistics for end of March 2009 will be available in May 2009 from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate website at:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration-asylum-stats.html

Asylum support accommodation is identified and provided by accommodation providers holding contracts with the UK Border Agency. It is therefore for accommodation providers within a specified region to determine where they provide specific accommodation in consultation with the local authorities and other key stakeholders. The one accommodation provider operating in Essex has confirmed that currently it has no plans to procure accommodation in the Castle Point constituency.