Asylum: Interviews

(asked on 29th September 2020) - View Source

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.


Answered by
Chris Philp Portrait
Chris Philp
Minister of State (Home Office)
This question was answered on 5th October 2020

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.

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