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
Source — 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
Publicly available evidence relating to this recommendation:
- No independently published staff culture action plan, implementation progress report, or outcome assessment has been identified to March 2026.
Response — verbatim from government
●Home Office
The government described the introduction of a code of conduct and a mandatory staff engagement strategy. The ITC review addresses staff wellbeing and secondary trauma awareness.
Home Office · 19 Mar 2024 Written response →
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 14 Jan 2025 Angela Eagle, Written PQ 23170 (15 January 2025): 'Due for closure by end of January 2025.' Source →
- 3 Sep 2025 · HM Inspectorate of Prisons Body-worn camera usage improved. Staff visibility and de-escalation noted as effective. View source → Good Progress
- 19 Sep 2024 · Brook House Inquiry Chair Inquiry Chair Kate Eves described government response as "inadequate" and called for a "reset" with the new government. Warned abuse "becomes a question of when, not if" it happens again. Insufficient Progress
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.