1 In October 2001, the Government announced a major overhaul of the asylum system to speed up the processing of applications from those seeking asylum in the United Kingdom. This included, on a trial basis, the provision of 3,000 places in purpose-built accommodation centres. The White Paper Secure Borders, Safe Haven outlined how these centres would operate alongside induction, reporting and removal centres to form part of an end-to-end asylum process. The accommodation centres would house a proportion of first time asylum seekers from the time of their initial arrival in the United Kingdom through to the point where the outcome of their application was decided, with all services including the administration of their application and any appeals done on site. These people (referred to as 'non-detained applicants') would otherwise have been housed in dispersed accommodation across the UK provided by the National Asylum Support Service.1
2 In May 2002, the Home Office announced that Bicester was one of the first sites for an accommodation centre and would act as a pilot for a planned network of up to ten accommodation centres. From the outset, there was strong opposition to siting the centre at Bicester from the local authority, local residents and national asylum and refugee support groups. The project began in May 2002 but outline planning permission was not secured until November 2004.
3 By April 2005, the number of applicants seeking asylum in the UK had fallen and initiatives to speed up the processing of asylum claims had reduced the time taken to reach an initial decision. In April 2005, the Senior Responsible Officer for the Bicester project advised the Home Office Accounting Officer that it was no longer economically viable. Capital costs had risen following lengthy delays related to the planning process and the anticipated benefits had reduced considerably because the number of applications to the UK for asylum had fallen. The number of applications halved between October 2002 and September 2003 due to a range of statutory and non-statutory measures and to wider trends in asylum flows. Also from September 2004, another initiative, the new asylum model, was being developed. Announced in February 2005, the new asylum model is designed to speed up the processing of asylum claims, reducing the need for dedicated accommodation. The project's cancellation was announced in June 2005.
4 Home Office figures indicate that by the end of March 2007, it had spent some £33.7 million on the accommodation project, of which some £28 million related to Bicester. Of the £33.7 million, the Home Office noted £29.1 million in its financial statements as a loss (£11 million in 2004-05, £16.6 million in 2005-06 and £1.5 million in 2006-07). The remaining £4.6 million is shown as an asset in the Department's financial statements, reflecting the value of the site as a removals centre.2
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1 The National Asylum Support Service (now part of the Border and Immigration Agency) provides accommodation for destitute asylum seekers plus day to day expenses while their applications are being considered. The Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General National Asylum Support Service - The provision of accommodation for asylum seekers (HC 130, 2005-06), also refers.
2 There are currently ten immigration removal centres operating across the UK which operate under Detention Centre Rules 2001. These secure establishments house individuals detained by the Immigration Service as overstayers, illegal entrants or failed asylum seekers prior to their removal from the country.