Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 14
Seventy-Sixth Report - The Asylum Transformation Programme
Published 27 Oct 2023
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee The Asylum Transformation Programme All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The Home Office told us it would include a wider range of costs and benefits in the next iteration of its business case, which it plans to produce early in 2024.36 It had previously told the NAO it would update the business case in Summer 2023.37 We note that the updated business case is now not expected until after the date by which the Home Office expects to have cleared the legacy backlog. When we questioned the Home Office about whether the Programme business case is realistic, the Home Office replied that it still expects there to be a “significant benefit to the taxpayer” from the Programme, and that it would “iterate from the previous version” and “sharpen” its analysis.38 35 Qq 128, 132 36 Q 170 37 C&AG’s Report, para 2.5 38 Qq 172–173 12 The Asylum Transformation Programme 2 Finding accommodation for people who are waiting for a decision Sourcing alternative accommodation to hotels
From: Public Accounts Committee, Seventy-Sixth Report - The Asylum Transformation Programme (HC 1334), 27 October 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 14 February 2024 (deadline 27 December 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees with the Committee's recommendations on the asylum backlog, the streamlined process and local authority engagement, and disagrees with those on hotels, safeguarding and publishing the Programme Business Case.
- On the backlog, the government agrees with the recommendation, describes it as implemented and says the legacy backlog target has been met; it says flow claims "will be prioritised from 2024 onwards".
- On hotels, it disagrees with the recommendation to set out how and by when it will stop using them, but says it has "plans in place to close over 50 hotels before the end of January 2024" and will keep modelling assumptions "under regular review".
- On local authorities, it agrees, with a target implementation date of "iterative to December 2025", and says pilots with London, Wales and South West England will run between January and March 2024.
- It disagrees with publishing the Programme Business Case, stating that "it is not standard practice" to do so, and offers a private meeting with the Committee once HM Treasury approves it, which it anticipates by "the Summer of 2024".