Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 7
7th Report - Asylum accommodation: Home Office acquisition of former HMP Northeye
Published 5 Feb 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Asylum accommodation: Home Office acquisition of former HMP Northeye All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
When we asked the Home Office whether it had rushed its decision to acquire the Northeye site, the Home Office told us it was “operating at pace” to address the growing number of people claiming asylum. The Home Office said Ministers were “pushing” the department to progress quickly with this acquisition.12 It explained that there was a clear government strategy to stop using hotels as asylum accommodation due to their high costs.13 In December 2022, the then Prime Minister made a statement to Parliament on illegal migration, which included the aim of abolishing the backlog of initial asylum decisions by the end of 2023 and ending the use of hotels to house asylum seekers.14 The National Audit Office reported that this “generated significant pressure within the Home Office to identify and secure sites for asylum accommodation at pace”.15
From: Public Accounts Committee, 7th Report - Asylum accommodation: Home Office acquisition of former HMP Northeye (HC 361), 5 February 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 6 May 2025.