Home Office 'comprehensively failing vulnerable' asylum seekers

The Home Office is “comprehensively failing some of the most vulnerable people in society” and must stop housing asylum seekers in military barracks, according to MPs and peers.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Immigration Detention said its “worst fears” were confirmed that the accommodation is “not only inappropriate, but downright harmful”, as it called on the Government to scrap potential plans to use similar accommodation on a larger scale across the country.

Earlier this year, immigration minister Kevin Foster confirmed the Home Office’s plan to continue to use scandal-hit Napier Barracks in Kent beyond September when its initial one-year contract expires.

The measure was initially billed as a temporary solution for asylum accommodation during the pandemic.

But it is now thought the site – loaned to the Home Office from the Ministry of Defence last year – could be used until 2025.

According to the APPG’s report, features of such sites – including their prison-like conditions – make them “fundamentally unsuitable” as asylum accommodation and could be “highly re-traumatising” for victims of torture and trafficking.

The group said its inquiry also highlighted “serious operational failings by the Home Office and its contractors in their running of the sites” and details how people had been subjected to “appalling treatment and conditions” which has left them feeling “dehumanised, exhausted and suffering a profound deterioration in their mental health, in some cases to the point of attempting suicide”.

APPG chairman Alison Thewliss, the SNP MP for Glasgow Central, said the report highlights the “myriad of ways in which the Home Office is comprehensively failing some of the most vulnerable people in society.

“Those forced to stay in quasi-detention accommodation have included children, people who have survived torture or trafficking, and other at-risk groups. Our worst fears have been confirmed that this type of accommodation is not only inappropriate, but downright harmful.

“The Home Office have presided over a litany of failures- not only are the sites themselves unsuitable, but their running and mismanagement of Napier Barracks and other large scale accommodation units has actively contributed to poor mental and physical health outcomes for residents, with barely existent safeguarding.

“The accounts of witnesses were heart-breaking and painted a picture of misery and a disregard for medical and legal rights. It is even more worrying that the Home Office themselves described this situation as a ‘pilot project’, suggesting this is the beginning of a new approach. Plans for ‘offshoring’ in the Nationalities and Borders Bill being debated this week certainly imply that there is worse to come, and we should not stand for it.

Dating back more than 130 years, the ageing Napier Barracks has been dogged by allegations of poor conditions.

An inspection by two independent watchdogs described parts of the barracks as “filthy” and “decrepit”, highlighting “fundamental failures” in housing asylum seekers there.

Six of those previously housed there won a legal challenge against the Government as a High Court judge ruled their accommodation was inadequate.

The Home Office has in the past insisted “significant improvements” have since been made and claimed it would be an “insult” to suggest the site is not fit for asylum seekers as it had been previously used to house military personnel.

Earlier this year, almost 200 people at the site contracted coronavirus, leading to accusations that health advice had been ignored.

In April, the Home Office declared the outbreak was over and insisted asylum seekers were staying in “safe, suitable, Covid-compliant conditions”.

But in July, senior health officials said it was still “difficult to envisage” the site being considered Covid-safe. A month later it emerged more Covid-19 cases had been identified.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Military barracks sites were previously used to house military personnel. To suggest they are not good enough for asylum seekers is an insult. Residents are not detained at Napier, they are provided with three meals a day and have their basic needs catered for.

“Our new Nationality and Borders Bill will create an immigration system that is fair but firm and fix our broken asylum system. This includes using accommodation centres, which will build on existing capacity whilst ensuring individuals have simple, safe and secure accommodation while their claims and returns are being processed.”