Bibby Stockholm will be housing people within weeks, says Oliver Dowden

Deputy PM confident' asylum barge will soon be used and that fire safety concerns will be taken into account

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Checks are still taking place on a barge designed to house asylum seekers, with the first group due to be housed there within weeks", the UK's deputy prime minister has suggested.

Oliver Dowden said he was confident the Bibby Stockholm in Portland, Dorset, would become operational soon and that the government would take into account those concerns" when pressed over fears raised about fire safety.