Conclusion 21

We were concerned about a prevailing culture within the Home Office that normalises operating in an emergency and led it to weaken approval processes when acquiring large sites like Northeye. Moreover, it has often appeared that the Home Office has prioritised appearing to address the issue of asylum accommodation over value for money and the effective implementation of projects. The National Audit Office reported that the Home Office dispensed with some established processes to acquire the Northeye site, in part due to the pressure to acquire at speed.66 In our evidence session, the Home Office acknowledged an “optimism bias” in its asylum accommodation plans and admitted to operating under sustained pressure for years, although it claims to have returned to “business as usual.”67 Previously, the Public Accounts Committee has raised similar concerns about over-optimism and planning failures in other Home Office programmes, such as the Emergency Services Network.68 The Permanent Secretary said he was “proud” of the pace demonstrated by Home Office staff and emphasised the complexity and divisive nature of the issues they handle.69 The Home Office told us that while there are instances where it must “operate with extreme pace” in response to crises and emergencies as described by Ministers, it also recognised the need to operate more sustainably in the future.70