Shabana Mahmood has said the Home Office is “not yet fit for purpose” after the release of a damning report that was kept secret for years.
The review, written under the previous government, uncovered a series of perceived shortcomings including a “culture of defeatism” on immigration, a lack of trust from other departments, and “several confused and conflicting systems”.
Written by the former Home Office special adviser Nick Timothy in 2023, it has been released after a two-year legal battle by the Times.
Responding to the revelations, Mahmood, who took over as home secretary from Yvette Cooper in September, vowed to overhaul the department, which she said had been “set up to fail”.
Timothy, who was given access to the department during a two-month review, found an excessively “defensive approach” among the Home Office’s lawyers and a reluctance among senior officials to tell “difficult truths” to ministers.
His report said “too much time is wasted” on identity politics and social issues, with staff spending work hours in “listening circles” to discuss their feelings about such matters.
Another finding was the distrust from other government departments, who became “particularly uncooperative” after the Windrush scandal.
One impact of the failings highlighted in the report was the crisis at the Manston asylum centre in Kent. In 2022 “fatally overoptimistic” forecasts led to serious overcrowding, with 18,000 people being unlawfully detained in horrific conditions, as well as an outbreak of diphtheria and scabies. The crisis prompted the Home Office to admit it had lost its grip on the situation.
This month, a coroner found that the Home Office missed opportunities to assess the mental health of an asylum seeker before he was moved on to the Bibby Stockholm barge, where he died in December 2023.
Mahmood said on Wednesday: “This report, written under the last government, is damning. To those who have encountered the Home Office in recent years, the revelations are all too familiar.
“The Home Office is not yet fit for purpose, and has been set up for failure. As this report shows, the last Conservative government knew this, but failed to do anything about it.
“Things are now changing. I will work with the new permanent secretary to transform the Home Office so that it delivers for this country.”
