Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 18
18
The Department told us that sourcing hotels in the COVID-19 pandemic had been an extremely...
Conclusion
The Department told us that sourcing hotels in the COVID-19 pandemic had been an extremely challenging and fast-moving situation. It recognised that there had been some issues with engaging local authorities and explained that it had redoubled its efforts since we last discussed this issue in July 2020.49 However, since then we have been contacted by a number of Members of Parliament who reported that neither they nor their local authorities had been informed of hotel use in their area.50 Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council also wrote to us to describe how the accommodation provider had failed to communicate with local authorities, such as when moving asylum seekers to new accommodation, or to share its plan for dealing with COVID-19 outbreaks.51
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
1.2 There are clear and established mechanisms for national and local engagement between the Home Office (the department) and its stakeholders and partners. UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) has dedicated MP account management teams. There is a national structure for engagement with local authorities headed by a Chief Executives group, and a national structure for engagement with the third sector headed by a Strategic Engagement Group. The department and its accommodation providers also engage intensively at a local level. These fora generally work well and are effective, although they have not always met the needs of stakeholders, especially during the initial period of the Covid-19 pandemic. 1.3 The department has listened to the feedback of the Committee and stakeholders and taken further steps to improve its engagement work. The department has also recently been consulting stakeholders on how to make its engagement more effective and is conducting lessons learned exercises to look at how it 6 can be improved further. This will be reflected in the Directorate Engagement Strategy which will be shared with stakeholders.