Conclusion 26

During our evidence session, the Home Office described its approach to acquiring large sites as “entrepreneurial”. It explained that this strategy was about piloting and testing approaches while operating at speed with limited information.90 The Home Office explained this as a good approach for identifying what works, quickly learning from failures, and adapting accordingly.91 We therefore, asked the Home Office how it plans to fully understand the seriousness of the issues that occurred in previous acquisitions. The Home Office repeated it has learnt lessons by improving its capabilities and processes. It told us, as a result, its accommodation strategy for the next decade will be markedly different from the previous two years, moving away from using large sites for asylum accommodation.92 82 Q 15 83 Q 17 84 Q 82 85 Q 82 86 Q 32 87 Qq 32, 83 88 Q 113 89 C&AG’s Report, para 2.6 90 Q 84 91 Qq 84, 116 92 Q 116 20 Costs savings and the impact on other parts of the system