Probe into refugee housing in Liverpool

The Home Office is to commission an internal
inquiry into dealings between the National Asylum Support Service
(Nass) and Landmark, a Liverpool firm that has been providing
accommodation in the city for refugees.

Beverley Hughes, minister for
immigration and asylum, has confirmed she will hold an inquiry
after calls for action from Louise Ellman, Labour MP for Liverpool
Riverside.

Ellman
has repeatedly expressed concerns over the conditions in which the
asylum seekers have been living. Up to two months ago, 300 refugees
were housed by Landmark in two tower blocks in the Everton district
of the city, but they were closed down after Ellman and city
councillors complained to the government about living
conditions.

Last
year asylum seekers in the tower blocks went on hunger strike in
protest at their living conditions.

No one
at Landmark was available for comment.