...would be 'Home Office Has Only 12 Staff Assigned To It's 'One in One Out' Returns Deal'. How much actual work they are doing remains opaque.
But Martin Hewitt admitted to the Commons home affairs select committee the small size of the team dedicated to working on the deal, The Times reports. He emphasised to MPs 'a whole host of other people' are involved in the process too. The official pointed to staff who process migrants selected for removal at the Manston centre in Kent. He also noted those at the immigration detention centre at Heathrow, where migrants are held before deportation to France. And overall, more than 5,000 civil servants in the Home Office and National Crime Agency (NCA) are working on the small boats crisis.
And it's clearly not enough - it's likr trying to bail out a leaky boat with a sieve. But until the government wises up and clamps down on the pull factor, it'll have to do.
He also told the committee of his frustration that the scheme has been beset by other difficulties too. The official said bureaucratic and legal difficulties have prevented French police officers starting to intercept small boats up to 300m from the coast. He explained the force is still being given specialist training to make sure they are not liable for any deaths which happen in the process.
Perhaps that 'specialist training' needs to be given to NHS staff too?
