Asylum seekers fleeing terror forced to live in degrading conditions in UK: report

Vulnerable asylum seekers in Britain, including pregnant women, torture survivors and individuals suffering from traumatic stress, are being housed in badly maintained, damp and vermin infested properties, a government report said Monday.

A committee of members of parliament (MPs) said the country's interior ministry, the Home Office, needs to show greater urgency about the degrading conditions in which vulnerable people, including small children, are being housed.

In its report on asylum accommodation, the parliamentary Home Affairs Committee has called for the transfer of inspection duties currently carried out by the Home Office to local authorities, including the ability to impose sanctions.

Nearly two years after a previous committee report on asylum accommodation, very little has improved and mistrust by local authorities of central government has deepened, said the report.

The committee warned of significant risks to asylum accommodation provision if the government doesn't urgently engage with local authorities who are considering withdrawing from a national dispersal scheme.

Currently the British government is finalising details contracts worth more than 5 billion U.S. dollars for the provision of asylum accommodation across the country.

Politician Stuart McDonald, a member of the committee, said local authorities in towns and cities have lost confidence in the system because the government has failed to listen and respond to their concerns.

McDonald, who sits as a MP, added: "This is fundamentally about providing safe accommodation to individuals fleeing desperate circumstances. On too many occasions the quality of housing provided has fallen far below what is acceptable.

"The new asylum accommodation contract must be the beginning of comprehensive reforms that bring an end to the constant examples of mouldy, damp, vermin infested conditions that asylum seekers experience now," he urged.