Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 19
19
We asked the Department about specific examples where there had been issues with its engagement...
Conclusion
We asked the Department about specific examples where there had been issues with its engagement with local stakeholders. At the end of August 2020, the Department moved asylum seekers, 47 of whom had tested positive for COVID-19, from the Stone Road initial accommodation in Birmingham that was closing to hotels in other areas, including in Hammersmith.52 Hammersmith and Fulham Council would be responsible for the public health of the service users that moved there, but we were concerned by reports in the press that that the Department and its provider did not engage with the local authority before asylum seekers were relocated. The Department told us that the movement of asylum seekers was discussed in depth at incident management team meetings, through which providers should work closely with the Department, Public Health England and relevant local authorities. It explained that the use of a hotel in Hammersmith was a last-minute 45 C&AG’s report, para 3.18 46 Qq 59–60, 83 47 Qq 23, 42–43 48 ASY0003 - British Refugee Council 49 Qq 41, 43–44; Committee of Public Accounts, Oral evidence: Immigration Enforcement, HC 407, 13 July 2020 50 Q 41 51 ASY0008 - Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council 52 Qq 51–53; Correspondence from Matthew Rycroft, Permanent Secretary, Home Office, Re: Home Office Asylum Accommodation and Support, dated 15 October 2020 Asylum accommodation and support transformation programme 15 solution after another in Birmingham had fallen through. The Department asserted that it engaged with Hammersmith and Fulham Council as soon as it could but that the type of engagement would have “depended on the circumstances in the moment”.53
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.