Recommendation 17

In April 2021, the Home Office contracted staff who had previously worked under the Ministry of Justice’s property function to provide in-house expertise in commercial property transactions. From August 2022, the contracted staff managed the acquisition of the Home Office’s interests in the Northeye site.49 The National Audit Office reported that the Home Office did not put in place arrangements to oversee the work of the contracted staff. For example, it found that incorrect advice by the contracted staff led to the Home Office paying the vendors an additional £0.9 million.50 This comprised of £0.5 million due to a six–month delay between exchanging contracts and completing the site purchase and £0.4 million related to legal action over the acquisition.51 We questioned the Home Office on the quality of advice it had received during the acquisition. It stated that the 43 Q 36 44 Q 35 45 Q 40 46 Q 42 47 C&AG’s Report, para 1.5 48 Q 91 49 C&AG’s Report, para 1.6 50 C&AG’s Report, para 8 51 Qq 55–58; C&AG’s Report, para 1.24 15 accounting officer at the time relied on consolidated advice from internal legal, financial, property and policy teams to secure the necessary approvals.52