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Serco and the degrading living conditions for asylum-seekers
The inadequate housing system for refugees is a disgrace, writes DIANE ABBOTT
LONE VOICE: Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration David Bolt [UK Government]

IN the last months of 2018 we saw two damning reports of outsourced asylum accommodation in Britain, and yet this week the government went ahead and gave billions of pounds worth of new contracts to outsourcers, including Serco which alone got an estimated £1.9 billion over a 10-year period.

These private companies have already failed to provide decent asylum accommodation, as they have failed in so many areas of social provision and campaigners have termed the award of these contracts as a slap in the face to those of who have suffered at their hands.

A report from Parliament’s cross-party home affairs select committee in December received widespread coverage and delivered a devastating critique of the system of housing for those who apply for refugee status and castigated Home Office failure to show “greater urgency” about improving conditions.

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