Source · Select Committees · Home Affairs Committee
Recommendation 4
4
Deferred
Home Office repeatedly failed to build adequate commercial and contract management capacity, despite warnings.
Conclusion
The Home Office was warned repeatedly that it needed to ensure it had adequate commercial and contract management capacity, but did not learn this lesson. Failure to do so left it unprepared to respond to the surge in demand for asylum accommodation. The department’s failure to recognise early on that the rapidly expanding value and complexity of the contracts would require additional resource and active management is unacceptable. We welcome the Home Office’s more recent capacity building and improvements to contract management, but this has come much too late. Given the department’s propensity for reprioritising staff and resources, we are also concerned that effective contract management may be deprioritised over time, risking similar failings as and when the next crisis arises. (Conclusion, Paragraph 43)
Government Response Summary
The government responded by addressing the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration's access to contract information, stating current access is supervised and protocols are being updated, rather than detailing plans for enhancing its own commercial and contract management capability. It will consider formalising these arrangements in legislation when parliamentary time allows.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
The Department does already allow the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) appropriate access to contract information to fulfil their statutory inspection duties effectively. The ICIBI is permitted supervised access to sensitive contract information. This approach balances the need for transparency in assessing efficiency and effectiveness with the protection of commercially sensitive data. We are working closely with the new ICIBI, John Tuckett, to ensure he has access to the information required to conduct inspections and assessments of efficiency and effectiveness of the Migration and Borders System. The UK Borders Act 2007, which underpins the ICIBI’s role, does not currently provide a clear framework for access to sensitive information, nor does it specify how such information should be used or redacted. To address this, the Department is working with the ICIBI to update protocols on ways of working between the ICIBI and the Department. We will consider formalising these arrangements in the future when Parliamentary time allows so that there is a statutory basis for the sharing and use of information.