Recommendation 10

The Department expected providers to be able to share data as part of the new contracts, to make sure they are providing the service expected for asylum seekers. The contracts required an automated link for issue reporting between the AIRE provider and the accommodation providers.23 However, the NAO found that this had not been in place and instead providers had to rely on workarounds such as reporting issues by email, which were inefficient and more prone to errors. The NAO concluded that this lack of integration meant providers could not provide an efficient service for asylum seekers.24 The Department accepted that automated links had not always been available early on in the contracts, but told us that information was still being shared and that it had agreed a workaround with providers. It said that it was still its firm intention to ensure that information was shared in an automated way and that work was underway to improve the 17 Q 72 18 Q 97 19 C&AG’s Report, paras 8, 2.4 20 Qq 96–97 21 Qq 119–122 22 Qq 99, 116 23 Qq 104–105 24 Qq 105–106; C&AG’s Report, paras 13, 3.6 12 Asylum accommodation and support transformation programme automated sharing of data.25