Recommendation 29

The Home Office set out actions it is taking to strengthen its commercial capability and contract-management arrangements. It confirmed it was “considering the options available” for exercising break clauses and renegotiating contracts, and stated that it had “clawed back £46 million of excess profit” from providers in the previous year.75 It also said it had commissioned an independent review of commercial capability and contract management, led by a non-executive director at the Ministry of Justice, and was implementing the subcontractor assurance framework, 70 Letter from the Acting Permanent Secretary of the Home Office relating to the inquiry into the asylum system, dated 25 February 2026 71 Q 114 72 C&AG, The Home Office’s asylum accommodation contracts, Session 2024-25, HC 874, 7 May 2025 73 HC Committee of Public Accounts, Asylum accommodation: Home Office acquisition of former HMP Northeye, HC 361, Seventh Report of Session 2024–25, 5 February 2025 74 HC Committee of Home Affairs, The Home Office’s management of asylum accommodation, Fourth Report of Session 2024–26, 27 October 2025 75 Letter from the Acting Permanent Secretary of the Home Office relating to the inquiry into the asylum system, dated 25 February 2026; Q 21 20 supported by site visits to ensure due diligence on subcontractors.76 We sought reassurance that the Home Office had learned from mistakes made from previous site acquisitions. It told us it had “instituted a new way of looking at the large sites going live”, including more detailed scrutiny of potential sites, enhanced technical surveys, strengthened commercial analysis, and earlier engagement with local authorities and service partners.77