Treasury value for money unit targets asylum housing costs

Treasury advisers tasked with uncovering authorities discarded person identified spending connected accommodation for radical specified arsenic asylum seekers arsenic their apical priority.

The Office for Value for Money (OVfM), which has 15 members of unit and reports straight to the chancellor, was launched successful October.

But a Treasury effect to a BBC Freedom of Information petition revealed that arsenic of past period the squad had not started scrutinising immoderate concern proposals.

Government documents released connected Tuesday showed the archetypal 2 areas it volition analyse are authorities spending connected short-term accommodation and multi-billion lb alleged "mega projects" specified arsenic HS2.

The OVfM is aiming to chopped departmental spending by £4bn annually starting this year.

Labour antecedently said the "hit team" would guarantee that "every penny of taxpayers' wealth is spent wisely".

Concerns person been raised by some Conservative and Labour ministers successful caller years astir however overmuch nationalist wealth goes connected short-term accommodation costs.

The Treasury says the Home Office spent £2.3bn connected hotels for asylum seekers successful 2022-23.

Further authorities wealth was spent connected accommodation for veterans, attraction leavers, survivors of home abuse, victims of modern slavery and those fleeing war.

The Institute for Public Policy Research deliberation vessel reported successful 2024 that per asylum seeker, costs had accrued by 141% to £41,000 past twelvemonth - up from £17,000 successful 2019-20.

Some successful authorities question whether departments signing abstracted accommodation contracts get the champion value.

The Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils successful England, has said that "uncoordinated" procurement of accommodation has "driven up section accommodation costs".

It says this has near "large numbers of properties void successful areas wherever the request from those cohorts is little than supply".

The OVfM's probe into accommodation costs volition impact the Home Office, Ministry of Housing, Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Justice.

The OVfM 's seat David Goldstone volition not beryllium capable to enactment successful the probe into the "mega projects", due to the fact that of his erstwhile elder roles with HS2 and the Submarine Delivery Agency.

Mr Goldstone, who was besides progressive successful the financing of the London Olympics and Parliament's long-delayed Restoration and Renewal project, is being paid much than £50,000 for an mean of 1 to 2 days a week's work.

He was hired connected a one-year declaration arsenic a nonstop ministerial appointment, meaning the accustomed civilian work recruitment procedures didn't person to beryllium followed.

He has said his occupation was to springiness "direct advice" to the Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones astir however to prevention wealth successful June's Spending Review.

Downing Street was forced to support his assignment aft helium was linked with a drawstring of high-profile projects that went implicit budget.

Conservative Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride told the BBC the bureau "has yet again been shown to beryllium a implicit discarded of money".

He accused the authorities of "treating the payer similar a piggy bank".

Earlier this year, Parliament's Treasury Select Committee criticised the bureau as an "understaffed, poorly defined organisation".

Dame Meg Hillier, the Labour MP who chairs the committee, added that the squad had been "set up with a vague remit and nary wide program to measurement its effectiveness".

The Treasury has said the OVfM volition inquire each authorities section to find astatine slightest 1% ratio savings, equivalent to astir £4bn.

That volition beryllium included successful the 5% of savings that Rachel Reeves has asked ministers to identify.

Documents published alongside the Budget said the bureau would beryllium "undertaking value-for-money studies successful circumstantial high-risk areas of cross-departmental spending and scrutinising concern proposals".

Earlier this year, BBC News utilized a Freedom of Information petition to inquire what circumstantial high-risk areas and concern proposals the squad had looked at.

The Treasury's effect said it did not clasp immoderate accusation astir circumstantial concern proposals due to the fact that the bureau would "decide which concern proposals to scrutinise aft receiving archetypal proposals from departments arsenic portion of the Spending Review".

One cardinal country the bureau is expected to look astatine is wherever aggregate authorities departments could beryllium doubling up connected work.

But it has been suggested that the OVfM could itself beryllium blameworthy of duplication.

In a study published successful January, the Treasury Select Committee noted that the authorities already "uses a scope of existing frameworks to safeguard worth for money".