Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.
The National Audit Office (NAO) has found that the UK Home Office made “poor decisions” and “cut corners” when it purchased a derelict prison contaminated with asbestos for £15m to house asylum seekers in 2023. The report shows that Northeye, a site in East Sussex originally purchased for £6.3m was sold to the Home Office for twice the original price, despite an assessment deeming it “high risk”. Other reports later identified a contamination risk from “asbestos-containing materials in existing buildings and contaminated ground”.
The NAO’s report outlines that the Home Office’s decision to purchase the site came about after then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s statement in Parliament, vowing to end the use of hotels to house asylum seekers. Soon after, a small group of ministers and officials from across Whitehall rushed the decision to acquire Northeye, despite no technical due diligence or approvals process being undertaken. Though the purchase’s final price amounted to £15.4m by September 2023, possible remediation would cost between £1.1m to £3.6m, and renovation was estimated to be an additional £20m.
Originally, Northeye was to become non-detained accommodation for up to 1,400 men who had arrived on small boats in the UK, with residents free to come and go. However, it was deemed unsuitable for this and was suggested to be used instead for detained accommodation, with no work yet to make it habitable. The Home Office responded that it would “consider its strategy and broader requirements before taking a view on the future use of it”.
The Labour government has yet to decide on the site’s use, and Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee will conduct further inquiries over “rushed and misjudged decision-making” to overpay for an asylum accommodation site “not fit for purpose”, despite warnings regarding the site’s condition. The NAO revealed that “it remains to be seen whether the acquisition of the Northeye site results in benefits that justify its cost.” The Home Office stated that it inherited a “backlog” of tens of thousands of cases which motivated its actions, but it is now committed to “ending the use of hotels” and housing people elsewhere
Read the full article from The BBC here: Read More
Auto Amazon Links: No products found. Blocked by captcha.