Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 8
8
Not Addressed
Home Office offers insufficient detail on Rwanda's relocation capacity and practical implementation.
Conclusion
The Home Office confirmed that the agreement with Rwanda was designed to start relocations quickly and then scale up to significant volumes of people. We asked about the Home Office’s ability to manage the practical implications of relocating people, and the capacity of Rwanda to accept and accommodate them. The Home Office explained it had modelled the number of people Rwanda could take and by when but there were “too many variables” and it would provide no further detail on the number and timing of relocations. We therefore asked how many people the accommodation in Rwanda can take. The Home 5 Qq 45–49, 106; C&AG’s Report, UK-Rwanda partnership, paras 7, 8, 2.1 6 C&AG’s Report, UK-Rwanda partnership, para 1.4; HM Government, Press Release: PM Statement on Safety of Rwanda Bill, 23 April 2024 7 Qq 42–43, 89 8 Qq 51, 52, 58–60 9 Q 52–53, 55–58, 62 10 Letter from Matthew Rycroft, Permanent Secretary, Home Office, to Dame Meg Hillier DBE MP and Rt Hon Dame Diana Johnson DBE MP, Chairs, Public Accounts Committee and Home Affairs Committee - Asylum Accommodation and UK-Rwanda partnership, dated 25 April 2024; Home Office, Statistics relating to Illegal Migration: data tables to 21 April 2024, 22 April 2024 11 Qq 134–138 10 Asylum Accommodation and UK-Rwanda partnership Office told us that it had invested in building up Rwanda’s capacity and capability, and that it knew that Rwanda was able to provide and organise enough accommodation for the number of people that it planned to relocate.12
Government Response Summary
The government states it agrees and has implemented the recommendation, but the response details past costs and confirms the ending of the Rwanda partnership, entirely failing to address the committee's observations and questions regarding Rwanda's capacity to accommodate relocated individuals.
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
1.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 1.2 The Home Office has already set out the funds paid to the Government of Rwanda as part of the Migration and Economic Development Partnership (MEDP) in a letter to the Committee of 7 December 2023, alongside the department’s cooperation with the National Audit Office and Comptroller & Auditor General’s investigation into the costs of the partnership. Their report of 1 March 2024 accurately sets out the costs paid to Rwanda as part of the partnership. The funding paid to Rwanda is as follows: • £20 million advance payment as part of the operational funding, • £270 million in Economic Transformation and Integration Fund (ETIF) payments, to support economic development. I can confirm that this includes £50 million paid to Government of Rwanda in April 2024 after the Safety of Rwanda Act received Royal Assent and following the ratification of the UK-Rwanda Treaty: Agreement for the Provision of an Asylum Partnership (‘The Treaty’). 1.3 The government has now confirmed that it will be ending the Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda, and that there will be no removals to Rwanda under the MEDP.