The Public Accounts Committee's report on the Home Office's handling of asylum seeker housing unveils a troubling culture of mismanagement, leading to nearly £100 million wasted. Senior civil servants disregarded expert advice when acquiring the HMP Northeye site for £15.4 million, which followed a series of failed purchases, including £34 million on the Bibby Stockholm barge and an abandoned RAF Scampton site costing £60 million. The report criticizes the government's disregard for safeguards designed to protect taxpayer money, emphasizing the need for accountability within the Home Office's processes during these acquisitions.
Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP stated: 'Northeye was one of a series of failed Home Office acquisitions for large asylum accommodation sites, totalling a cost to the public purse of almost 100m of taxpayers' money.'
The report highlighted that senior civil servants ignored expert advice at the time, further complicating the decisions surrounding the rushed purchase of the site.
In scrutinizing the Home Office, the committee found that their practices led to repeated mistakes and a worrying culture of bypassing processes designed to protect public funds.
Treasury rules for safeguarding public money should only be overridden in extreme circumstances, but in this case, the government chose to dismiss these established protocols.
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