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MPs have demanded an explanation from the home secretary for the apparently “misleading” evidence she gave in Parliament about the conditions in two controversial military sites housing asylum seekers.
An inspection by the UK’s immigration and prison watchdogs of Napier Barracks, in Folkestone, and Penally Barracks, in Pembrokeshire – both of which were repurposed as asylum accommodation in September – found that the sites did not comply with official health and safety guidance.
Preliminary findings of the inspection, published on Tuesday, stated that recommendations and concerns from Public Health England (PHE) and Public Health Wales (PHW) were “not actioned” before hundreds of asylum seekers were placed there.
The Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) and the Prison Inspectorate stated that PHE “had advised the Home Office that opening multi-occupancy dormitory-style accommodation at Napier was not supported by current guidance, and both they and PHW expressed concerns about the Covid-safety of the accommodation”.
The home secretary added at the time: “It is all working in line with public health guidance and with local authority partners … so we have been following guidance in every single way.”
Her remarks were echoed by the Home Office’s permanent secretary Matthew Rycroft during the same evidence session, who claimed the department had “followed the guidance at every stage”.
In a letter to Priti Patel on Wednesday, chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee Yvette Cooper states that she is “very concerned” that some of those findings “contradict” the evidence that you and the permanent secretary gave to the Committee on Wednesday 24 February.
“Please can you provide an immediate explanation for the discrepancy between the information you gave us and the information provided in the ICBI report including any corrections needed to the evidence you gave us to ensure it is accurate and not misleading,” the letter states.
Ms Cooper goes on to demand that Ms Patel explain why she had not yet provided the committee with the public health assessments and advice the department received before starting to use the barracks, and to “immediately” disclose the PHE and PHW advice that was given.
Stuart McDonald, SNP MP and member of the committee, called on Ms Patel to go a step further and make an urgent statement on the matter in Parliament, saying the ICIBI findings “utterly undermined” what she had been “telling Parliament for months”.
Describing the camps as a “reckless policy choice”, he added: “The contradictions between ministerial accounts and the reality in this report are many and varied.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The permanent secretary and home secretary were clear that we have followed public health advice on how multiple occupancy accommodation can be used in a Covid-secure way and we followed all steps to mitigate risks.”
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