A Lisburn councillor has raised disclosure concerns on asylum data amid Home Office Freedom of Information responses
A Lisburn councillor has raised disclosure concerns over a UK Home Office refusal to release housing statistics it initially claimed it did not hold.
In a Freedom of Information paper trail – seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service – the Government body went on to state it indeed holds the asylum seeker data, but will not share it.
The revelation comes as Minister for Communities Gordon Lyons took the floor in Stormont to state 250 houses of multiple occupation are provided by Mears housing for asylum seekers in Northern Ireland.
Lisburn South DUP Alderman, Paul Porter said: "What I want to know is, why the Home Office will not tell the public about contracts that are spending taxpayers money?”
According to the Mears website, the ‘housing solutions company’ works with the Home Office to provide housing and support to asylum seekers who enter the UK.
Mr Porter added: “Following a failure by Mears and the Home Office to respond to myself, I asked MP Jim Shannon to submit a Freedom of Information request to the Home Office, which has now left us with more questions than answers.
“We asked the Home Office in February to outline the number of properties Mears Housing has rented or purchased in Northern Ireland in each of the last five years in each constituency.
“After initially saying they did not have the information, the Home Office six months later said they actually did have the data, but would not disclose it.
“So, the Home Office has the information, but they are not willing to go to the public with it.
"People are not being given the information they as taxpayers have a right to know. The total lack of openness and transparency by the Home Office and Mears is shocking in Northern Ireland.”
A Home Office response on October 16 then stated: “I can confirm that the information requested is held by the Home Office, however, it is not being disclosed, pursuant to the exemption under Section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act.”
The exemption from disclosure has been made due to the likelihood it would “prejudice the commercial interests of both the Home Office and those companies with whom the Home Office enters contracts”.