AQW 28433/22-27

Ms Kellie Armstrong
Alliance Party
Strangford

Tabled Date: 09/06/2025
Answered On Date: 22/07/2025
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for Communities,pursuant to AQO 2109/22-27, (i) to clarify comments he made which intimated the the Mears Group are housing illegal immigrants; and (ii) for his assessment of the legal obligation for the UK to protect refugees and asylum seekers.

Answer:

Your assertion is incorrect, and I would refer you to the answer I gave to AQO 2109/22-27

Immigration is an excepted matter and the lead government department with responsibility for legal obligations to asylum seekers across the UK is the Home Office.

Where an individual has been accepted by the Home Office as a refugee and given leave to remain in the UK, in most cases this will bring an entitlement to access public services including housing and homelessness assistance for which my Department is responsible in Northern Ireland.