Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an assessment of the effectiveness of its contract with Migrant Help.

AIRE is the new Advice, Issue Reporting and Eligibility service. The AIRE contract with Migrant Help contains a number of formal performance measures, including Key Performance Indicators, which provide a mechanism by which the effectiveness of contract delivery can be measured. These are monitored in formal monthly and quarterly contract governance meetings. Measures can be taken where performance falls short of the standards we set.

The services within the new AIRE contract represent a new method of delivering advice and guidance to asylum seekers and look to provide a single point of contact for issues, feedback and requests for guidance and assistance, which has not previously existed. During the early months of the contract volumes of people accessing the service were in excess of those predicted.

The Home Office has been working closely with Migrant Help, including through the formal governance set out in the contract and, through the transition period to the new contracts. We will continue to monitor performance and the effectiveness of the contracts through the monthly Contract Management Groups and quarterly Strategic Review Management Boards.

Further information about the performance measures within the contract can be found in the contracts, published here: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/028be8bb-3c69-494d-bfdd-59c2e1b34379?p=@UFQxUlRRPT0=NjJNT08=