Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 27
27
Accepted
Home Office has established arrangements to monitor Rwanda payments and individual residence in country.
Conclusion
The National Audit Office found that the Home Office had established arrangements to test whether the partnership was working and to oversee payments. We asked whether payments would stop if an individual left Rwanda, and how the Home Office would know if this had happened. The Home Office explained that under the terms of its agreement, the Rwandan government would be required to provide detailed information on a regular basis, including reporting individuals’ on-going residence in Rwanda. We asked the Home Office how it was ensuring that the necessary safeguards were in place to protect taxpayers’ money spent on the scheme. The Home Office also told us that it had established two monitoring committees and had staff in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, in readiness for the transfer of individuals. We also asked how the Home Office would ensure that the Rwandan government spent the money provided on services for those that are relocated from the UK. It explained that the Rwandan Government will be required to provide reports to the monitoring committees to ensure that money provided under the agreement is spent on providing the agreed services.47 The Accounting Officer’s responsibilities to Parliament
Government Response Summary
The Home Office has already set out the funds paid to the Government of Rwanda and confirmed it will be ending the Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda, so there will be no removals to Rwanda under the MEDP.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
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.