Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 48
48
Paragraph: 202
We urge the Home Office urgently to review the way Mears has been operating during...
Recommendation
We urge the Home Office urgently to review the way Mears has been operating during the pandemic, to consider its poor management of service users’ welfare, and the wider public health consequences of its approach.
Paragraph Reference:
202
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
18 Home Office preparedness for COVID-19 (coronavirus): institutional accommodation: The Government expects the highest standards from all of our contractors and we work closely with asylum accommodation providers to monitor and ensure they continue to meet these standards. Throughout the recent pandemic, all providers have continued to react quickly in challenging circumstances to ensure that statutory duties are met and asylum seekers continued to be safely accommodated in accordance with public health advice. In respect of the necessary urgent movement of service users from Urban House in early July, the Home Office and Mears have met with the Director of Public Health for Wakefield to discuss what lessons can learnt. Mears have apologised for the shortcomings in their communications with stakeholders during these moves and we are taking appropriate action to address and support all our providers in their management of future dispersals and potential outbreaks.