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Action plan to address staff desensitisation and secondary trauma

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

Government responseHome Office: Accepted, fully or in part (not specified) (Jan 2025)

DeliveryHome Office says completed (May 2025)

Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry

●Inquiry recommendation

Contractors operating immigration removal centres must develop and implement an action plan to ensure a safe and healthy staff culture in immigration removal centres. The action plan must address: the identification of and response to any sign of desensitisation among staff; training staff on coping mechanisms and secondary trauma awareness; and maintaining an appropriate balance between care and safety or security. The Home Office must regularly monitor each contractor's compliance with their action plans.

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

Published evidence summary

AI-generated evidence summary

In a letter of May 2025, quoted in a July 2025 High Court judgment, Dame Angela Eagle, Minister for Border Security and Asylum, stated that all recommendations in this category "have been met and closed" (Dame Angela Eagle, May 2025). The Minister highlighted contract investments to improve staff culture, post-training mentorship, and an ongoing review of initial training for removal centre staff (Dame Angela Eagle, May 2025). Previously, in a January 2025 written answer, the Minister confirmed the recommendation was accepted or partially accepted and scheduled for closure by the end of that month (Dame Angela Eagle response, Jan 2025; Dame Angela Eagle, Jan 2025).

Sources

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

About this summary
This recommendation applies across many organisations. The record above reflects central policy activity; adoption in individual organisations may vary.

Government response

●Home Office · Accepted, fully or in part (not specified) · 15 Jan 2025

Words of: Dame Angela Eagle, Minister of State, Home Office, written answer to Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP, House of Commons, 15 January 2025 (UIN 23170)

30 out of the 33 recommendations made by the Brook House Inquiry have been accepted or partially accepted.

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

Site note: The written answer gives this sentence once, for 30 of the 33 recommendations together: every recommendation except 7, 19 and 30, which it says were rejected. It does not say which of the 30 were accepted in full and which in part, so the site records "Accepted, fully or in part (not specified)". The same words are recorded on recommendations 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32 and 33. Recommendations 1, 2 and 3 are among the 30 but are not given this row, because the Minister's letter of 22 May 2025 states a position on each of them.

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

6.8.1. The report findings in relation to contracted service provider staff behaviour and culture were shocking and unacceptable. Significant changes have been implemented to better define operational staffing levels, introduce accredited training, a code of conduct, and a mandatory staff engagement strategy. The government is particularly mindful of the findings that the negative culture at Brook House during the time of the documentary was endemic and enabled by senior managers. The Home Office is working to ensure that all safeguards and monitoring of conduct apply to all staff, including senior leadership.

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 category have been met and closed. Significant investment has been made into the development of new contracts to improve service provision and staff culture, alongside a comprehensive review of remaining older contracts to ensure consistency. The Initial Training Course (ITC) for all new supplier staff in IRCs is undergoing a full review to ensure understanding of fundamental subjects including AaR, mental health awareness, race awareness and safeguarding children. There will also be a mentorship phase following completion of initial training and annual refresher training to ensure staff are effectively supported. Annual refresher training and completion of ITCs in line with the DSO Detainee Custody Officer and Detainee Custody Officer (Escort) Certification (DSO 02/2018) are currently included within all IRC contracts, any changes following the full review will be reflected and incorporated by each IRC supplier.

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 231. The letter gives the sentence "All recommendations in this category have been met and closed." once, for a group of recommendations. In the judgment the group is the heading "Staffing and culture" (paragraph 224: "Recommendations 23 to 27 on this topic are considered together."): recommendations 23, 24, 25, 26 and 27. It is one statement for the group, not a statement about this recommendation alone, and the site records it on recommendation 27 only, where the judgment quotes it.

Earlier statements on delivery (0)

●Home Office · 15 Jan 2025

5 (recommendations 5, 11, 27, 28 and 29) due for closure by the end of January 2025

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 5 recommendations it gives a closure date for. The same words are recorded on recommendations 5, 11, 27, 28 and 29.

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.