PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Asylum (16 December 2014)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance she has given to the UK Border Agency on (a) the maximum distance that asylum seekers can be asked to travel when reporting to police stations and (b) other aspects of the interpretation of that requirement.

Asked by:
Kerry McCarthy (Labour)

There is no maximum distance set on the distance individuals can be asked to travel to report to either a Home Office reporting centre or a police station.

Current Home Office guidance states that an individual will not normally be required to travel more than 25 miles to report (Reporting – Standards of Operational Practice).

Any asylum seeker living outside of the three mile radius of their reporting location who receives Asylum Support under Section 95 or Section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act of 1999 is eligible to apply for assistance with
travel expenses.

Initially, reporting location is determined on the basis of the postcode of an individual’s proposed address. Further consideration may then be given to the reporting location should the individual raise exceptional circumstances which
makes travelling difficult, for example medical issues or pregnancy.

Answered by:
James Brokenshire (Conservative)
5 January 2015