Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what training he plans to provide to proposed external suppliers of asylum interviews; and who he plans will deliver that training.
The Home Office have been exploring many options to reduce the number of outstanding asylums claims and interviews. As a short-term measure, the department have consulted with Commercial colleagues to explore with third-party suppliers to test the viability of whether they can deliver the support required.
An existing supplier has offered to support the proof of concept to test viability over a short period. Any plans to make more long-term use of the private sector for interviews will be reviewed and subject to a procurement process. A key success factor is to ensure interviews conducted are of a good standard and equal to existing approaches.
To ensure external suppliers are suitably equipped to carry out the role, a bespoke training package has been developed and will be delivered by the department.
To guarantee governance and accountability, mechanisms are in place for the oversight of third-party interviews, the department has a quality assurance process which assesses the quality of decisions, interviews and the application of Home Office policy.