Home Office Minister Alex Norris and Clearsprings to be questioned on asylum accommodation contracts and use of large sites
The Home Affairs Committee will question Minister for Border Security, Alex Norris MP, and Manager Director of asylum accommodation provider Clearsprings Ready Homes, Steve Lakey.
Meeting details
Earlier this year, the Home Affairs Committee published a report raising serious concerns around the operation and management of asylum accommodation contracts. It found that the system had struggled to cope with a surge in demand for asylum accommodation. Hotels went from a temporary stop-gap to the backbone of the asylum accommodation system. The result was a system that was expensive, unpopular with local communities and unsuitable for asylum seekers.
The session will examine what progress has been made in resolving the issues and developing the long-term strategy for the asylum system. It will examine recent decisions to use large sites at Crowborough Training Camp and Cameron Barracks. Following the Government’s pledge to end the use of asylum hotels it will examine how and when the Government plans to deliver on this commitment.
The Committee’s report also highlighted failings in contract management, with the Home Office unaware of when subcontractors were running services and inadequate support services for residents. The session will examine what progress has been made in resolving these failings.
Ahead of the session the Committee has published evidence from local authorities and accommodation providers about the Home Office’s use of Crowborough Training Camp in East Sussex for asylum accommodation, and the departments plans to house asylum seekers at Cameron Barracks in Inverness. Local authorities have criticised the Home Office’s engagement regarding these sites and said that the sites are not suitable for use as asylum accommodation.