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• Question by: Lord Bailey of Paddington
• Meeting date: 07 September 2023

Thank you, Chair. Good morning, panel. I address my first question to Deputy Mayor Tom Copley. The Mayor first announced in February that he had received £126 million from the Government’s Local Authority Housing Fund to provide homes for refugees and that this funding would be used to provide 600 affordable homes, mainly for Ukrainian and Afghans fleeing conflict. How many of these homes have been provided so far?

• Question by: Caroline Russell
• Meeting date: 07 September 2023

Caroline Russell AM: Thank you, Chair. Good morning, everyone. My question is for Enver Solomon. I met recently with the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants in preparation for this plenary. They told me about the experience of a woman who claimed asylum in the UK, was 33 weeks pregnant and living in asylum accommodation near Gatwick. She was being given food that was unsuitable during pregnancy. She complained about the food to the hotel and medical practitioners from her hospital also spoke to hotel managers saying that the food was unsuitable for her and her baby, but no...

• Question by: Joanne McCartney
• Meeting date: 07 September 2023

Joanne McCartney AM: Thank you. My question is to Deputy Mayor Copley. I want to focus on housing if I can. You have already talked about the RHP to provide over 600 homes. If you had sufficient resources, what more could you do?

• Question by: Hina Bokhari
• Meeting date: 07 September 2023

Hina Bokhari AM: Thank you, Chair. I want to focus more on the issues that Enver and Tom have touched on, which are around homelessness. Due to the change in the Home Office policy that you were mentioning, Enver, there has been a real risk of issue because of the minimum of seven days to find alternative accommodation following eviction by the Home Office. I know that councils have an obligation to house families and particularly children, but adults who have no children are at particular risk in this situation. I want to start my questions with Helena, who works...

• Question by: Sakina Sheikh
• Meeting date: 07 September 2023

Sakina Sheikh AM: Thank you, Chair. Good morning to the panel. It has been a sort of informing but somewhat depressing conversation so far this morning. I wanted to just drill down into this conversation that has been had around the use of hotel accommodations to house asylum seekers. Enver, I am going to come to you specifically. I had a roundtable meeting organised by Migrant Voice with a lot of asylum seekers recently. Then they also released a report called No Rest No Security. Some of the details around the conditions in the hotels are shocking. We have heard...

• Question by: Tony Devenish
• Meeting date: 07 September 2023

Tony Devenish AM: Thank you. I will start with the Deputy Mayor. Apart from one or two bits of emotional language, I agree with virtually everything that has been said this morning. We clearly have a major issue and we need to do more to resolve it. of course, there could be a change of Government, I hope not, but there could be a change of Government in only 12 or 13 months. We can all set out the problem, it is easy to set out the problems and there has been great work done by people. I would like...

• Question by: Siân Berry
• Meeting date: 07 September 2023

Siân Berry AM: Thank you very much, Chair. My first question is to Hannah Boylan from the GLA Migration Team. Like my colleague, Caroline [Russell AM], I also met with the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, who raised a separate issue about asylum seekers living in Home Office asylum accommodation. The guidance from the Home Office says that category 2 health hazards should be made safe within 24 hours and fixed within five days, but I have heard countless examples of Migrant Help - which Caroline [Russell AM] discussed earlier - failing to respond to complaints and help...

• Question by: Anne Clarke
• Meeting date: 07 September 2023

Anne Clarke AM: Thank you Chair, and good morning to everyone. My question is to Tom Copley, Deputy Mayor. The Government has changed the rules so that Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs) no longer need a licence if they are used to house asylum seekers. Is this putting lives at risk?

• Question by: Nick Rogers
• Meeting date: 07 September 2023

Nick Rogers AM: Thank you, Chair. Good morning, panel. I have some questions around English language skills, so I imagine they will probably sit best with Tunde Olayinka. Through the Adult Education Budget (AEB), the GLA funds English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) provision for around 40,000 people in London at a cost of approximately £40 million. Do you know how many refugees are amongst that 40,000?

• Question by: Elly Baker
• Meeting date: 07 September 2023

Elly Baker AM: Thank you, Chair. My first question is to Tunde [Olayinka] and Hannah [Boylan]. We have heard several times already today about the absolute necessity of appropriate support and advice for refugees, so I would like to specifically ask, how is the GLA supporting the development of a co-ordinated and wellresourced immigration advice sector.