Chair comment: NAO report into the costs of the UK-Rwanda Partnership

In response to the National Audit Office report into the costs of the UK-Rwanda Partnership, Chair of the Home Affairs Committee Dame Diana Johnson MP said:

“These are staggering figures. For all its rhetoric about ensuring value for money in the asylum and immigration system it is unclear how schemes such as Rwanda or Bibby Stockholm achieve that. Huge initial outlay and ongoing costs raise serious questions about how this can be cost effective, even compared to high hotel accommodation costs.

“What we are left with is a very expensive programme the Government hopes may offer a deterrent to those seeking to cross the Channel in small boats. Yet, there is little evidence for this either. Unless the Government deals with the realities of the situation and focuses its energy and the public’s money on fixing the real issues in the asylum and immigration system, it will achieve nothing.

“This also does little to allay the serious concerns, shared by our colleagues on the Public Accounts Committee, about the lack of openness on the cost implications of the Rwanda scheme from the Home Office. For a scheme whose importance is apparently self-evident, we would expect the evidence base to be far clearer, not presented in dribs and drabs and getting worse every time. We would like to thank our colleagues at the NAO for illuminating the picture for us.”