Asylum seekers: Home Office to review use of Rotherham hotel

The Home Office is set to review the use of a hotel which has seen protests after housing 130 asylum seekers.

Last year, the Holiday Inn in Manvers, Rotherham, was contracted to provide accommodation for refugees on behalf of the government.

That contract has since been extended until October, Labour MP for Wentworth and Dearne John Healey said.

The Home Office was "doing all [it] can to stop the use of hotels," Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick said.

A six-month review of the Home Office's decision to use the hotel as accommodation, alongside an assessment of the government's wider asylum accommodation needs, is set to take place in April, Mr Jenrick added.

Mr Healey said he was "pleased" the review was set to take place.

"I will make a formal submission to Robert Jenrick as part of this review, when I will again set out our local concerns about Manvers being utterly unsuited for such accommodation and our wish to see our hotel being released back for ordinary paying customers."

He added he would try to hold the government department "to their word" after, in March 2022, they said the use of the hotel would be temporary.

In response, Mr Jenrick said the Home Office was bringing forward the use of alternative accommodation such as surplus military sites.

"We have already identified locations that could accommodate 10,000 people and are in active discussions to secure these and more.

"Our aim is to add thousands of places through this type of accommodation in the coming months, at half the cost of hotels," he added.

Earlier this month, two people were arrested following protests at the hotel.

Members of anti-immigration groups and pro-immigration organisations had gathered outside the building.

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