Department of Immigration and Home Affairs repeated closure an embarrassmen

Department of Immigration and Home Affairs repeated closure an embarrassment

The GSD notes with alarm that the Department of Immigration and Home Affairs once again had to interrupt its services to the public for a day, due to flooding.

It will be recalled that the same thing happened in May this year & at the time the GSD justifiably questioned how the operation of an important Government Department which interacts on a daily basis with the public to deal with the registration of births, deaths, residency, marriages etc., could have been closed for a whole day on a second occasion in this way.

In its reaction at the time, the Govt glibly responded to concerns raised by the GSD, suggesting that it all boiled down to a burst pipe and ignored the point about the value for money concerns which arise.

Damon Bossino said: “It is ironic & an embarrassment for the Government that it should move one of its departments from a non-rent paying Government property to a privately owned building – at an annual cost of £214,680 until 17 April 2032 – on the grounds that the new premises would be of better quality and would not be suffering from water ingress issues to
then be afflicted by the same problem.”

It is also incredible that the property which housed the Department of Immigration and Home Affairs will now be refurbished for the purpose of the Mental Health Hub. It seems that what was unacceptable for the Immigration Department is fine for the Mental Health Hub.

There are another three Government departments in that same building at a total annual cost of approx £430,000. This recent episode raises the further question whether similar issues are also impacting these other departments.