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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/nov/02/amber-rudd-says-she-hopes-home-office-changes-windrush-blunders
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| Amber Rudd wants Home Office changes after Windrush blunders | Amber Rudd wants Home Office changes after Windrush blunders |
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| Amber Rudd has said she hopes “changes will be made” at the Home Office after a report found senior civil servants failed her at the height of the Windrush scandal, amid a confusion over immigration targets which prompted her resignation. | |
| The former home secretary stepped down after wrongly telling the home affairs committee there were no targets for removing illegal immigrants. | |
| The report, by the prime minister’s adviser on ministers’ interests, Sir Alex Allan, found officials repeatedly gave her wrong information and failed to clear up the problem in time to allow her to correct the record when she appeared before a committee of MPs on 25 April. | The report, by the prime minister’s adviser on ministers’ interests, Sir Alex Allan, found officials repeatedly gave her wrong information and failed to clear up the problem in time to allow her to correct the record when she appeared before a committee of MPs on 25 April. |
| An executive summary of the report, published by the Home Office on Friday, criticised two senior officials for the way Rudd was told there were no targets, something put down to “crossed wires”, with other errors then meaning the mistake was missed. | |
| The officials, Hugh Ind, then the head of immigration enforcement, and Patsy Wilkinson, one of the Home Office’s head civil servants, have not faced any disciplinary action and have both now moved to different government jobs. | |
| In the report, Allan criticises Ind for a “less than satisfactory performance”, and says Wilkinson, as the manager of an exposed official, would have been expected to “play a more proactive role”. | |
| Rudd, who dropped strong hints she was not about to return to frontline politics, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “There are elements of this report which just show that, unfortunately, that area of the department did not have a grip on what was going on. | |
| “I hope that there will be changes made as a result of this report so that people get a better service from immigration enforcement.” | “I hope that there will be changes made as a result of this report so that people get a better service from immigration enforcement.” |
| Rudd questioned why the report had been “sat on for nearly six months” and claimed she had been targeted by a series of leaks while she was home secretary. | Rudd questioned why the report had been “sat on for nearly six months” and claimed she had been targeted by a series of leaks while she was home secretary. |
| “There were a series of leaks during the past year at quite a high level that were definitely intended to embarrass me,” she said. | “There were a series of leaks during the past year at quite a high level that were definitely intended to embarrass me,” she said. |
| Downing Street said Theresa May, who preceded Rudd as home secretary, accepted Allan’s findings. “Clearly, the report has raised some difficult and important issues, and the Home Office has rightly said that they’re going to learn from those,” May’s spokeswoman said. | |
| But she rejected any suggestion of concerted efforts by civil servants to undermine ministers. “It is about a specific set of circumstances involving a small number of individuals,” she said. “There is nothing to suggest such issues are widespread across either the department or the civil service.” | |
| Amid wider turmoil at the Home Office, a review into whether the department had been fair and humane in its approach to immigration has been announced by Rudd’s successor, Sajid Javid. | |
| There have been reports that Javid’s move has been resisted by Downing Street because of concerns that his plans for a broad investigation could shine an unwelcome light on May’s time as home secretary. | |
| This was dismissed by No 10 on Friday. “I wouldn’t accept that,” May’s spokeswoman said. “The PM believes it’s clearly right the structures and processes in any department are reviewed to ensure they are effective and fair, and that’s what’s happening.” | |
| Rudd stepped down after revelations in the Guardian over Windrush culminated in a leak that appeared to show she was aware of targets for removing illegal migrants from Britain. | Rudd stepped down after revelations in the Guardian over Windrush culminated in a leak that appeared to show she was aware of targets for removing illegal migrants from Britain. |
| The pressure increased as the Guardian revealed that in a leaked 2017 letter to May, Rudd had told the prime minister of her intention to increase deportations by 10% – seemingly at odds with her denials that she was aware of deportation targets. | The pressure increased as the Guardian revealed that in a leaked 2017 letter to May, Rudd had told the prime minister of her intention to increase deportations by 10% – seemingly at odds with her denials that she was aware of deportation targets. |
| Amber Rudd | Amber Rudd |
| Immigration and asylum | Immigration and asylum |
| Conservatives | Conservatives |
| Commonwealth immigration | |
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