Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish details of the (a) procurement process for awarding the contract to transfer asylum seekers to Rwanda under the UK-Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership and (b) company that has been awarded that contract.

The Migration and Economic Development Partnership intends to deter dangerous journeys and illegal entry to the UK, break the business model of people smugglers and protect the lives of those they endanger.

The use of charter flights is a standard part of Immigration Enforcement activity; we work with an independent commercial broker to ensure we get best value for money. Every week the Home Office removes to different countries people who have no right to be in the UK. During the COVID-19 pandemic we have continued to deport foreign national offenders and return other immigration offenders where flight routes have been available to us, both on scheduled and charter flights.

The Government’s efforts to facilitate entirely legitimate and legal returns of people who have entered the UK illegally are too often frustrated by late challenges submitted hours before the flight. These claims are very often baseless and entirely without merit, but are given full legal consideration which can lead to removal being rescheduled.