A Home Office response to a Freedom of Information request has left one MP describing the embattled Government Department as a real-life Monty Python Show.
Sussex Weald’s Conservative MP Nusrat Ghani requested details of key assessments undertaken by the Home Office on Crowborough Training Camp to decide if it was suitable for housing asylum seekers. This followed Home Office Ministers and officials repeatedly stating the camp was, in their assessment, suitable to be used for this purpose.
In her Freedom of Information act request Nusrat Ghani MP asked for:
- A copy of the Health and Safety confirmation issued in relation to the site’s (Crowborough Training Camp) use as asylum accommodation.
- The QHSE inspection reports and outcomes, including any documents where these are contained within.
- Reviews of environment, health, and security risks.
Yet rather than provide any assessments they had conducted, the Home Office bizarrely stated they could “…neither confirm nor deny whether the Home Office holds the information you have requested.”.
Whilst not being able to confirm if the documents existed, the Home Office did confirm it believed, potentially non-existent documents, should be exempt from disclosure under a “public interest test”. The Home Office bizarrely attempting to justify this with claims releasing the documents might “exacerbate” views held by the public on the decision to use the camp.
In response Nusrat Ghani MP has slammed the response as a farce and written to Immigration Minister Alex Norris demanding a review of it.
She said: “The Home Office says it cannot confirm whether records of key assessments exist. Yet it can decide it will not disclose potentially non-existent documents. It’s a Monty Python style farce! Ministers repeatedly tell the public they believe the Crowborough Training Camp is a safe and appropriate place to use as asylum accommodation. Yet when asked for key assessments the Home Office cannot even confirm if these exist! Crowborough and our whole country deserves better than this!”
