Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 32
32
Acknowledged
When asked for an update, the Home Office said that it was important that the...
Conclusion
When asked for an update, the Home Office said that it was important that the substance of any negotiations with any other countries was kept private, and that it would not share the information in public. We noted that it was important that the Committee, and the Home Affairs Committee, were as updated as possible on these matters. The Accounting Officer offered to “pursue the possibility of briefing a number of you behind 51 HM Treasury, Accounting Officer Assessments – Guidance,_May_2023, part 4; Letter from David Fairbrother, Treasury Officer of Accounts, HM Treasury, to Dame Meg Hillier DBE MP, Follow up to 15 April – Asylum Accommodation and UK Rwanda partnership, dated 8 May 2024, paras 12–17 52 Qq 11–12, 16; 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 53 Letter from David Fairbrother, Treasury Officer of Accounts, HM Treasury, to Dame Meg Hillier DBE MP, Follow up to 15 April – Asylum Accommodation and UK Rwanda partnership, dated 8 May 2024, paras 2 - 6 54 Qq 16, 18–19 55 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 56 Qq 30–32, 39–40, 64–66, 77, 82, 106 Asylum Accommodation and UK-Rwanda partnership 19 the scenes”. They acknowledged that there would be a significant lead time, similar to that of the Rwanda partnership, to agree to and implement any further partnerships.57 The Home Office provided written evidence after the session and confirmed that, working with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, it had approached other countries to assess their level of interest in working with the UK as third country asylum partners.
Government Response Summary
The government maintains that details of negotiations with other countries for third-country processing must remain private due to sensitivity, but states it will write to the new Committee in due course to provide updates as necessary.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
6.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: to be advised. 6.2 The implementation dates are dependent on project development; therefore, a date cannot be currently supplied but the department will inform the Committee as soon as it is able to do so. 6.3 The Home Office is committed to producing Accounting Officer Assessments (AOA) for all required programmes including any new or outstanding Programme AOAs, these are being progressed now and whilst the Home Office intend to publish any outstanding assessments as quickly as possible, it is right that it gets the views of Ministers in this process. For new programmes or those with significant changes, the AOA will be produced promptly at the same time as an updated business case. 6.4 Decisions by new Ministers are likely to result in changes to some Programmes. For example, discussions are ongoing on the Asylum Accommodation Non-Detained Programme including large sites and so the department will not yet be publishing an AOA but will keep the Committee updated. 6.5 On sharing information about negotiations with other countries that are being considered for third country processing, the Home Office Permanent Secretary noted during the Committee evidence session that it is important that the substance of those negotiations is kept private due to their sensitive nature. The department will write to the new Committee on this in due course to provide updates as necessary.