Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Seventy-Sixth Report - The Asylum Transformation Programme
Public Accounts Committee
HC 1334
Published 27 October 2023
Recommendations
6
Rejected
Publish updated business case for asylum transformation programme, clarifying intentions and impacts
Recommendation
The Home Office failed to convince us that it understands the full implications of its programme on the wider asylum system, affecting the ability of others to plan. The current business case for the asylum and protection transformation programme is …
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Government Response Summary
The government disagrees with the recommendation, stating it does not intend to publish the business case as it is not standard practice. Instead, it offers to hold a private meeting with the Committee once HM Treasury approves the business case, which is anticipated by Summer 2024.
HM Treasury
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7
Accepted
High caseworker turnover continues to hinder asylum decision-making capacity and productivity
Recommendation
In the year to April 2023, 25% of caseworkers left their role.15 The Home Office told us the proportion of caseworkers leaving had reduced since the C&AG’s report (published in June 2023) and that some caseworkers leave the role for …
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Government Response Summary
The government accepted the recommendation, confirming it met the target of increasing asylum caseworkers to 2,500 by September 2023 and is continuing rolling recruitment campaigns to maintain these staffing levels.
HM Treasury
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8
Accepted
Home Office increased asylum decisions by resolving bottlenecks in claim processing system.
Recommendation
The Home Office told us that it has increased the number of decisions caseworkers make by focussing on “bottlenecks” in the system. It said that asylum claims requiring decisions had not been reaching caseworkers quickly enough and, when they did, …
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Government Response Summary
The government accepted the recommendation, stating it has implemented fundamental changes resulting in 112,000 asylum decisions and tripled productivity by streamlining processes, and will continue to build on these for the remaining backlog of cases.
HM Treasury
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9
Accepted
Home Office employs streamlined asylum process for specific nationalities, using pre-interview questionnaires.
Recommendation
The Home Office also told us about its streamlined asylum process, which is used for people applying for asylum who are from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Sudan.19 It said that this process includes people seeking asylum completing a …
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Government Response Summary
The government accepted the recommendation, stating it has been implemented and that the Home Office provided a supporting letter to the Committee on 9 January 2024 addressing the related points.
HM Treasury
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10
Accepted
Streamlined asylum questionnaires poorly designed, lack clear instructions, and are only available in English.
Recommendation
However the UNHCR, as well as the Public Law Project and Dr Jo Wilding from the Migration Law Clinic, have raised concerns about the streamlined asylum process questionnaire.23 Though the Home Office told us that it had worked with the …
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Government Response Summary
The government accepted the recommendation, stating it has been implemented and that the Home Office provided a supporting letter to the Committee on 9 January 2024 addressing the identified weaknesses in the streamlined asylum process questionnaire.
HM Treasury
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11
Accepted
Poor asylum questionnaire design potentially increases 'implicitly withdrawn' claims and administrative decisions.
Recommendation
When deciding on an asylum claim, the Home Office can make what it calls ‘administrative decisions’ if a person claiming asylum withdraws their claim or if the Home Office decides a claim is ‘implicitly withdrawn’. The Home Office may withdraw …
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Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the committee's recommendation regarding administrative decisions and states it has been implemented, with further details provided in a letter to the Committee dated 9 January 2024.
HM Treasury
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21
Accepted
Home Office communications with local councils on asylum accommodation changes remain inconsistent.
Recommendation
The Home Office told us that it is working with the Local Government Association and individual councils and was “talking about all the big issues that arise, whether that is housing capacity, health, safeguarding and so on”.62 Specifically on room-sharing, …
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Government Response Summary
The government accepted the recommendation, committing to pilots for a Place-Based Approach from January-March 2024, improving data sharing with local authorities, and refreshing Full Dispersal plans from 2024, targeting implementation by December 2025.
HM Treasury
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22
Rejected
Home Office lacks clear, detailed plans for ensuring safety in shared asylum hotel rooms.
Recommendation
When we asked the Home Office how it was ensuring the safety of the people it is pairing up to share a hotel room, it was unable to clearly articulate its plans and said that there “might be people for …
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Government Response Summary
The government rejected the recommendation, stating it disagrees and that its existing safeguarding strategy, which includes staff training, collaboration with statutory agencies, and a Safeguarding Hub, already ensures the welfare and safety of asylum seekers.
HM Treasury
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Conclusions (15)
2
Conclusion
Accepted
The focus on streamlining decision-making may inadvertently lead to more flawed decisions, or the withdrawal of genuine asylum claims. The Home Office is now collecting more detailed information through a questionnaire for people from six countries where most claims result in asylum being granted, in the hope that it will …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and confirms that the Home Office has already written to the Committee on 9 January 2024, providing the information requested regarding administrative decisions, quality assurance, and planned evaluations of the streamlined asylum process.
3
Conclusion
Rejected
The Home Office does not have a credible plan for ending the use of hotels to accommodate people waiting for a decision and the unacceptable cost this creates. The Home Office spent £2.3 billion on hotels in 2022–23 to accommodate people waiting for their asylum decision. In April 2023, there …
Government Response Summary
The government disagrees with the recommendation, explaining that the use of hotels was a short-term measure and a plan is in place to reduce reliance, including closing over 50 hotels by January 2024. However, it states that modelling future demand is complex and uncertain, thus not committing to a specific date for ceasing hotel use.
4
Conclusion
Accepted
The Home Office is failing to engage meaningfully with local authorities on decisions that affect their residents and already strained public services. We have previously reported that the Home Office has not adequately engaged with local stakeholders on asylum accommodation. This continues to be the case. The Home Office acknowledged …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees, stating it will run pilots between January and March 2024 in London, Wales, and South West England to test design principles for a revised place-based approach. It also committed to improving relationships through data sharing, individual discussions, and refreshing Full Dispersal plans from 2024, utilising existing governance structures.
5
Conclusion
Rejected
The Home Office does not have adequate safeguards to protect against the risks of vulnerable people having to share accommodation with strangers. The Home Office has written to councils informing them that the number of people staying in hotels will double. It plans to achieve this by making people share …
Government Response Summary
The government disagrees with the recommendation, explaining that it already has a comprehensive safeguarding approach in place, with existing strategies, trained staff, collaboration with stakeholders, robust processes, and a Safeguarding Hub to identify vulnerabilities and manage risks for asylum seekers.
1
Conclusion
Accepted
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Home Office about its asylum and protection transformation programme.1
Government Response Summary
The government, misinterpreting the introductory conclusion as a recommendation, claims it has been implemented by clearing over 112,000 legacy asylum cases in 2023. This was achieved by deploying additional caseworkers, quadrupling decision-makers, and tripling productivity through streamlined processes.
12
Conclusion
Accepted
As a result of the changes it has made, the Home Office has increased the number of asylum decisions it makes from an average of 1,310 each week in April 2023, to 1,700 in the first week of July 2023.30 To meet its commitment to clear the legacy backlog by …
Government Response Summary
The government states it has met the legacy asylum backlog target by clearing over 112,000 cases in 2023, attributing this to increased caseworkers and tripled productivity. It will continue to build on existing processes for remaining 'flow' cases.
13
Conclusion
Not Addressed
While the Programme aims to increase the number of asylum decisions that the Home Office makes, the Home Office acknowledged that it has not looked broadly enough at benefits and costs beyond the asylum and protection team of increasing decisions.33 For example, its business case does not account for economic …
Government Response Summary
The government states it will not publish the Programme’s Business Case, as it is not standard practice, but offers a private meeting to explain how impacts were modelled once HM Treasury approval is received.
14
Conclusion
Rejected
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 …
Government Response Summary
The government rejects the committee's implied recommendation to publish the business case, stating it is not standard practice, but offers a private meeting to discuss it once HM Treasury approval is received by Summer 2024.
15
Conclusion
Rejected
In 2022–23, the Home Office spent £2.3 billion on hotels to accommodate people waiting for a decision on their asylum claim and in April 2023, there were 48,000 people waiting for a decision in hotels.39 In his statement to the House on 13 December 2022, the Prime Minister said that …
Government Response Summary
The government rejects the committee's implied criticism regarding hotel usage and bed provision, detailing a plan to reform asylum accommodation, reduce reliance on hotels by closing over 50 by January 2024, and continually review modelling assumptions.
16
Conclusion
Accepted
When we asked the Home Office why it was so far from achieving its accommodation targets, it told us that there is a “huge amount of pressure” for the type of accommodation it is trying to source.44 In written evidence, the Local Government Association (LGA) told us that providers sourcing …
Government Response Summary
The government disagrees with the committee's 'recommendation' (misunderstanding item type) and outlines its implemented plan to reform the asylum accommodation estate by optimising hotel use, increasing room sharing, expanding dispersed accommodation, and delivering alternative sites, with over 50 hotels planned for closure by January 2024.
17
Conclusion
Accepted
The Home Office also told us that it pays for around 5,000 empty hotel rooms as a ‘buffer’ in case it needs more space than exists at its initial holding facilities such as Manston, where many asylum seekers are first taken when they arrive in the UK.49 This buffer is …
Government Response Summary
The government disagrees with the committee's 'recommendation' (misunderstanding item type) and outlines its implemented plan to reform the asylum accommodation estate by optimising hotel use, increasing room sharing, expanding dispersed accommodation, and delivering alternative sites, with over 50 hotels planned for closure by January 2024.
18
Conclusion
Rejected
The Home Office said it is very difficult to estimate how many people will claim asylum because of uncertain migration patterns, but that it has low, medium and high scenarios that it uses for planning purposes.53 When we asked the Home Office when it planned to stop using hotels for …
Government Response Summary
The government rejects the committee's implied recommendation for better planning, stating it has a clear plan to reform asylum accommodation, including closing over 50 hotels by January 2024, and will continue to review modelling assumptions despite inherent uncertainties.
19
Conclusion
Not Addressed
The Home Office explained that, as a way to limit the number of hotels it is using, it will accommodate more people in each hotel by increasing the amount of room-sharing.55 It told us that it had so far increased the number of beds available in hotels by a number …
Government Response Summary
The government disagrees with the committee's observation, reiterating its plan to reduce reliance on hotels by optimising existing use, increasing room sharing, and delivering alternative accommodation, stating it has begun closing over 50 hotels. It does not provide the specific savings figures requested by the committee.
20
Conclusion
Accepted
In our 2020 report Asylum accommodation and support transformation programme, we found that the Home Office had not adequately engaged with local stakeholders on asylum accommodation.60 In response to that report, the Home Office told us that it had taken steps to improve its engagement work.61
Government Response Summary
The government agrees to improve engagement with local stakeholders, committing to running pilots of a Place-Based Approach (Jan-Mar 2024), refreshing Full Dispersal plans from 2024, and continuing data sharing and collaborative governance.
23
Conclusion
Accepted
The Home Office said it would come back to us with further details on its processes for deciding who will share rooms but its letter of 18 August added little detail about how the Home Office would ensure people are kept safe, and it largely repeated what was said in …
Government Response Summary
The government states it disagrees with the committee's 'recommendation' (misunderstanding the item type) and details its extensive existing safeguarding strategy, including staff training, welfare support officers, and a Safeguarding Hub, to ensure the safety and welfare of asylum seekers.