The Home Office is responsible for asylum in the UK, as well as for supporting people seeking asylum by providing financial support and accommodation while it determines their asylum claim. The previous Government sought to reduce the use of hotels as accommodation by setting up sites including barges and disused military bases. The Home Office acquired the former HMP Northeye in Bexhill-on-Sea in September 2023, with the intention of developing it for asylum accommodation. The site was not yet operational in autumn 2024.
The Committee’s 2024 inquiry into asylum accommodation and the UK-Rwanda Partnership found little to show for the money that had been spent by that point. While its report welcomed Government’s progress in closing down the use of asylum hotels, it found that the Home Office’s assessment of the requirements for setting up alternative accommodation in large sites fell woefully short of reality and risked wasting taxpayers’ money. It also found that the new sites would not house anywhere near as many people as initially expected, exacerbating existing accommodation issues.
The National Audit Office (NAO) investigated the process by which the Home Office acquired the Northeye site, and the reasons for the site not yet being operational.
Based on the NAO report, the Committee will hear from senior Home Office officials on subjects including what lessons were learnt from the purchase of the Northeye site, as well as from other sites being developed for asylum accommodation.
Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere.
Please note the Committee is unable to help with individual cases. If you need help with an individual problem you are having, you may wish to contact your constituency MP.
If you have evidence on these issues please submit it here by 23:59 on Thursday 28 November 2024.