The Home Office has “squandered” billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on asylum accommodation, according to a report by a committee of MPs.The Home Affairs Committee said “flawed contracts” and “incompetent delivery” left the department unable to cope with a surge in demand and it relied on hotels as “go-to solutions” instead of temporary stop-gaps.The MPs said expected costs had tripled to more than £15bn and not enough had been done to recoup excess profits.A Home Office spokesperson said the government was “furious about the number of illegal migrants in this country and in hotels”, and reiterated its pledge to end the use of asylum hotels by 2029.The report said the current system for housing people seeking asylum – with its reliance on hotels – was expensive, unpopular with local communities and unsuitable for the asylum seekers themselves.Chair of the committee Dame Karen Bradley told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We just ended up with more people than the contracts ever thought there could be and that’s meant that the costs have absolutely rocketed.”The report said the contracts drawn up for accommodation providers under the Conservatives had been flawed and that “inadequate oversight” had meant failings went “unnoticed and unaddressed”.Expected costs for hotel contracts from 2019-2029 have risen from £4.5bn to £15.3bn, while two accommodation providers still owe millions in excess profits that the Home Office has not recovered, the report found.”The government has only just started looking at claiming back thos …
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[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnThe Home Office has “squandered” billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on asylum accommodation, according to a report by a committee of MPs.The Home Affairs Committee said “flawed contracts” and “incompetent delivery” left the department unable to cope with a surge in demand and it relied on hotels as “go-to solutions” instead of temporary stop-gaps.The MPs said expected costs had tripled to more than £15bn and not enough had been done to recoup excess profits.A Home Office spokesperson said the government was “furious about the number of illegal migrants in this country and in hotels”, and reiterated its pledge to end the use of asylum hotels by 2029.The report said the current system for housing people seeking asylum – with its reliance on hotels – was expensive, unpopular with local communities and unsuitable for the asylum seekers themselves.Chair of the committee Dame Karen Bradley told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We just ended up with more people than the contracts ever thought there could be and that’s meant that the costs have absolutely rocketed.”The report said the contracts drawn up for accommodation providers under the Conservatives had been flawed and that “inadequate oversight” had meant failings went “unnoticed and unaddressed”.Expected costs for hotel contracts from 2019-2029 have risen from £4.5bn to £15.3bn, while two accommodation providers still owe millions in excess profits that the Home Office has not recovered, the report found.”The government has only just started looking at claiming back thos …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
