Two refugee centres which were opened at the end of last year year to accommodate asylum seekers who cause problems in regular centres have barely been used so far, the Volkskrant reported on Wednesday.

The two centres, in Amsterdam and Hoogeveen, had housed just 36 people up to March this year, the paper said. It bases its claim on documents obtained using freedom of information legislation.

The two centres cost €1.2m to set up and operate a stricter regime than in regular refugee centres, the paper said.  Most of the money has gone on personnel costs.

The central refugee organisation COA said that agreement had been reached with Amsterdam and Hoogeveen to start out with a few asylum seekers as a test. There are no figures available for numbers after March.

Junior justice minister Mark Harbers told the paper that it would be premature to draw conclusions about the new approach.

He said he had the impression that ‘removing a disruptive person to the new facility has an impact on the people left behind’ who realise that bad behaviour has consequences.