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Monitor Brook House contract performance robustly

Brook House Inquiry · The Brook House Inquiry Report · Issued 19 September 2023 · Addressed to: Home Office

Government responseHome Office: Accepted (May 2025)

DeliveryHome Office says completed (May 2025)

Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry

●Inquiry recommendation

The Home Office must actively and robustly monitor the performance of the Brook House contract, including satisfying itself that any self-reported information is accurate. This may include engagement with monitoring bodies and appropriate stakeholders. Penalties must be attached to inadequate self-reporting.

Brook House Inquiry, The Brook House Inquiry Report · 19 Sep 2023 Source PDF →

Published evidence summary

AI-generated evidence summary

In a May 2025 letter quoted in a July 2025 High Court judgment, Dame Angela Eagle, Minister for Border Security and Asylum, stated that the Home Office accepted the recommendation and that it had been "met and closed" through improved compliance oversight and contract monitoring (Dame Angela Eagle response, May 2025; Dame Angela Eagle, May 2025). The Minister had earlier reported in a January 2025 parliamentary written answer that the recommendation was met and closed as of October 2024 (Dame Angela Eagle, Jan 2025). In its March 2024 response, the department outlined improvements to contract monitoring, including standardised compliance schedules, internal audit requirements, and quarterly executive oversight boards (Home Office response, Mar 2024).

AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 27 Sep 2026.

Government response

●Home Office · Accepted · 22 May 2025

Words of: Dame Angela Eagle, Minister for Border Security and Asylum, letter to Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP, 22 May 2025, as quoted in R (D1914) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWHC 1853 (Admin), 21 July 2025

We accepted the recommendation on monitoring contract performance

Response document: R (D1914 and AAA) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; R (AVY) v Secretary of State for the Home Department

Site note: These are the words of the letter of 22 May 2025 from the Minister for Border Security and Asylum to Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP, as reproduced in the judgment in R (D1914 and AVY) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWHC 1853 (Admin). The letter itself is not published: it is on GOV.UK nowhere, was not deposited in Parliament and is not annexed to the judgment, so the judgment is the record that carries it and is the source this row cites. The judgment quotes it on this recommendation at paragraph 130.

Earlier statement from Home Office (1)

●Home Office · Under consideration · 19 Mar 2024

Words of: Home Office, Government response to the public inquiry into Brook House Immigration Removal Centre (CP 1041), March 2024

6.1.1.The government is committed to addressing the key issues found in the report around the terms and monitoring of contracts, holding the most senior service provider managers to account as well as those delivering services within IRCs. From 2017, following the documentary, the Home Office has recognised deficiencies and significantly invested in the development of new contracts to improve service provision and bolster oversight thereof. These contracts require the implementation of an internal audit programme to monitor both processes within the IRC and compliance with detention centre (DC) rules, detention services operating standards and detention services orders (DSOs) as well as mandating self-reporting by contracted service providers. Key performance indicators (KPIs) relate to operating the required audit arrangements and submitting completed audits to the Home Office, including details of any non-compliance.

6.1.2. Two different Home Office teams operate in each IRC; detention services compliance teams are responsible for all on site contract monitoring. This includes ensuring that contracted service providers are fulfilling their contractual requirements and delivering against KPIs. The teams monitor the services provided, the treatment of detained persons and the condition of the establishment. Detention engagement teams (DETs) are responsible for interacting with those detained on behalf of casework teams and providing updates on case progression. In addition to this oversight and engagement, improvements are being made to the current Detention Services Operations Compliance and Assurance strategy for 2024 onwards to:

define a robust staffing structure for locally embedded Home Office compliance teams and standardise compliance monitoring schedules

provide a clear methodology, ensuring a consistent approach to the monitoring of and adherence to contracts

strengthen consistency between IRCs by standardising processes,sharing best practice and providing a consistent approach across the detention estate with clear reporting and escalation processes

6.1.3. As further support, executive oversight boards (EOBs) are held quarterly between senior Home Office officials (from both the operational and commercial community) and senior executives and account management from IRC service providers. These boards offer the opportunity to escalate and conclude any issues raised by either party that cannot be resolved at an operational level.

Extract from: Government response to the public inquiry into Brook House Immigration Removal Centre

Site note: CP 1041 is organised by ten key issues, not by recommendation, and states no position on any individual recommendation. Its only general statement of acceptance is that "The government has carefully considered and accepts the broad thrust of the recommendations". The words "in principle" do not appear anywhere in the document.

Delivery

●Home Office says completed · 22 May 2025

All recommendations in this thematic area have been met and closed. We accepted the recommendation on monitoring contract performance, and have improved compliance oversight and contract monitoring, including application of Key Performance Indicators.

From: R (D1914 and AAA) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; R (AVY) v Secretary of State for the Home Department, Dame Angela Eagle, Minister for Border Security and Asylum

Site note: These are the words of the letter of 22 May 2025 from the Minister for Border Security and Asylum to Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP, as reproduced in the judgment in R (D1914 and AVY) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2025] EWHC 1853 (Admin). The letter itself is not published: it is on GOV.UK nowhere, was not deposited in Parliament and is not annexed to the judgment, so the judgment is the record that carries it and is the source this row cites. The judgment quotes it on this recommendation at paragraph 130. The letter gives the sentence "All recommendations in this thematic area have been met and closed." once, for a group of recommendations. In the judgment the group is the heading "Contracts": recommendations 1 and 2. It is one statement for the group, not a statement about this recommendation alone, and the site records it on recommendation 1 only, where the judgment quotes it.

Earlier statements on delivery (0)

●Home Office · 15 Jan 2025

12 recommendations (recommendations 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 14, 18, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26) met and closed as of October 2024

From: Mistreatment of Detainees at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre Inquiry (written question UIN 23170)

Site note: One written answer of 15 January 2025 addresses all 33 recommendations in groups: it names each recommendation in one of four groups and says nothing further about any of them individually. It does not say which of the 30 it describes as "accepted or partially accepted" were accepted in full and which in part.

Site note: The source gives this passage once, for the 12 recommendations it describes as met and closed. The same words are recorded on recommendations 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 14, 18, 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26.

How this page is built

The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.