Highlights:
- Home Secretary says the Home Office is “not yet fit for purpose”
- Report by former adviser Nick Timothy found a “culture of defeatism”
- Civil servants accused of wasting time on “identity politics”
- Mahmood vows to rebuild the department to “deliver for this country”
HOME SECRETARY Shabana Mahmood has said the Home Office is “not yet fit for purpose” after an internal report described it as dysfunctional and detached from its core functions.
Mahmood, who took office last month, said that the department had been “set up to fail” but said she was working to rebuild it so it “delivers for this country”.
Her comments follow a report uncovered by The Times, written by former Home Office special adviser Nick Timothy, now a Conservative MP.
Commissioned in 2022 by then home secretary Suella Braverman, the report found a “culture of defeatism” on immigration and failings that hindered work on crime and small boat crossings.
Timothy was granted access to the department and its staff for a two-month review. He found “too much time is wasted” on identity politics and social issues, with civil servants spending working hours in “listening circles” to discuss personal and political views.
The report criticised the asylum and immigration system as “lethargic”, citing a backlog of 166,000 asylum cases and interviews delayed for up to two years.
Timothy said some officials refused to work in immigration because they were “ethically” opposed to border control or feared blame when issues arose.
He also pointed to outdated data and technology systems and rejected calls to split up the department, urging instead for urgent investment in modern systems.
Mahmood said: “This report, written under the last Government, is damning. To those who have encountered the Home Office in recent years, the revelations are all too familiar. The Home Office is not yet fit for purpose, and has been set up for failure.”
A senior source told the BBC that Permanent Secretary Antonia Romeo plans to make the Home Office “the ‘blue-chip’ department of Whitehall, and the destination department for top talent”.
