Morning Star: Home Office’s plans to outsource asylum interviews to privateers branded ‘dangerous’ [Wed 23 Sep 2020]
Extract:
HOME OFFICE plans to outsource asylum interviews to a private contractor were branded “dangerous” by refugee charities yesterday.
The government department said that it was considering handing over the interview and evidence-gathering process to a third party to cope with a growing number of asylum applications.
Firms in the running for the contract include G4S, Capita, Mitie, Sopra Steria and Serco, all privateers embroiled in a number of scandals over the handling of detention centres.
The shocking proposal was revealed in a circular from the Home Office team that processes refugee claims.
It states that one of the companies will be chosen to run a pilot programme involving real asylum claims for six to eight weeks.
The Home Office will still make the final decision on the asylum claim, although the contractor will be responsible for conducting interviews and gathering evidence.
(I have to say, it’s hard to imagine even G4S being worse than the Home Office themselves.)