Immigrant housing and accommodation: FOI release

Information requested

How many Hotels in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire are being used to house these illegals! How many illegals, male or female and what hotels are being used?.

Response

I enclose a copy of some of the information you requested. In order to explain why we are unable to provide all of the information you requested, I have broken your request into four parts.

Response to your request: part 1

'how many Hotels in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire are being used to house these illegals'

The answer to your question is that no hotels have been procured to house ‘illegals’. However, the Scottish Government is aware that there are 3 hotels within Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire that have been procured by the Home Office. This relates to people seeking asylum, who are entitled to accommodation and asylum support under the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, if they would otherwise be destitute while awaiting a decision on their asylum application from the UK Government.

Response to your request: part 2

‘how many illegals’

As noted, there are no ‘illegals’ being accommodated in hotels.
In terms of people seeking asylum accommodated by the Home Office, as of 18 October 2023, the Scottish Government is aware that there are 288 people staying at the 3 hotels referred to above.

Response to your request: part 3

'male or female'

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested. This is because no information is held by the Scottish Government relating to if these people are male or female.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have the information you have requested.

However, as asylum and immigration are reserved to the UK Parliament and handled by the Home Office, you may wish to contact the Home Office at foirequests@homeoffice.gov.uk to find out whether there is further information which they would be able to provide in relation to your request. You may also find information which has already been published under previous information requests, as part of statistical releases, or otherwise made available on the UK Government website: Home Office - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Response to your request: part 4

'what hotels are being used'

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested because an exemption under section s.30(b) (ii) (free and frank exchange of views) of FOISA has been applied as this information is shared with the Scottish Government for operational reasons and responsibility for its sharing lies with the UK Government. An exemption under s.30(c) (the effective conduct of public affairs) of FOISA also applies to that information.

This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption. We recognise that there is some public interest in release because there is an interest for the public in the operation of the UK asylum system within Scotland's communities. However, this is outweighed by the public interest in ensuring the effective conduct of public affairs.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.