D.2 The contract to run Brook House

Introduction

1. Brook House, like other immigration removal centres (IRCs) in the UK, was and is managed on behalf of the Home Office by private outsourcing firms. The Home Office nevertheless retains ultimate responsibility for the welfare of detained people, and the process of subcontracting cannot remove that responsibility. Contracted-out centres such as Brook House must be operated in accordance with the Detention Centre Rules 2001 (the Rules), which set standards for the safety, care, activities, discipline and control of detained people, as well as with the specific terms of the contract.1 This includes Rule 3¹ which clearly states:

“The purpose of detention centres shall be to provide for the secure but humane accommodation of detained persons in a relaxed regime with as much freedom of movement and association as possible, consistent with maintaining a safe and secure environment, and to encourage and assist detained persons to make the most productive use of their time, whilst respecting in particular their dignity and the right to individual expression.”“The purpose of detention centres shall be to provide for the secure but humane accommodation of detained persons in a relaxed regime with as much freedom of movement and association as possible, consistent with maintaining a safe and secure environment, and to encourage and assist detained persons to make the most productive use of their time, whilst respecting in particular their dignity and the right to individual expression.”²

2. This chapter focuses on the Home Office management of its contracts for Brook House, with G4S Care and Justice Services (UK) Ltd (G4S) from 2009 to 2020, then with Serco Group PLC (Serco) from May 2020.³ It considers the original procurement process, the management of contractual performance (including the operation of contractual penalties), and the impact of these issues on the welfare of detained people at Brook House.

1. Section 149 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 contains a power for the Secretary of State to contract out management of removal centres. Where that has been done, it specifies that the contracted-out removal centre must be operated in accordance with the rules made by the Secretary of State under section 153 of the Act, ie the Detention Centre Rules 2001[↩]
2. Detention Centre Rules 2001, Rule 3(1); see CJS006120[↩]
3. Healthcare services, considered separately in Chapter D.8, were and are delivered at Brook House under a separate contract[↩]