On Tuesday the Home Affairs Select Committee on asylum will take delivery of a report which will raise profound questions about yet another sector of the outsourcing industry.
In 2012 G4S, which had no previous experience of providing social housing, won £324m out of a seven year £620m contract from UKBA to provide housing for asylum-seekers. This raised serious questions at the time: G4S is not a social housing association: it’s a security company. Would it have the infrastructure to carry out emergency call-outs, cyclical repairs or maintenance? It owned very few properties itself, so subcontractors were employed, many of whom would in turn be expected to find private landlords.
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