'G4S made £14m profit from immigration centre'

Business reporter(wp/ebc):::

G4S made profits of more than £2m per year for running an immigration centre where detainees were filmed being mistreated by staff, a report says.

The National Audit Office found the security firm made £14.3m profit running Brook House from 2012 to 2018.

The findings raise serious questions about the Home Office's handling of sensitive contracts, MPs said.

The Home Office said it had been working to improve leadership, management and training at the centre.

Panorama footage broadcast in September 2017 showed alleged assaults, humiliation and verbal abuse of detainees by officers at the centre, near Gatwick Airport.

At least six staff members were dismissed by G4S.

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The NAO report found G4S has been making "significant profits" on the Brook House contract.

Between 2012 and 2018, G4S made £14.3m gross profits, (before deducting a share of company overheads, such as human resources), with gross profit rates of between 10% and 20% each year.

It also pointed to the fact that under the terms of its contract G4S cannot be penalised if staff use excessive force or inappropriate language.

Labour MP Yvette Cooper, chairwoman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said the findings raised "serious questions" about the Home Office's handling of sensitive contracts and claimed the department's monitoring should have picked up problems sooner.

She said: "For G4S to be making up to 20% gross profits on the Brook House contract at the same time as such awful abuse by staff against detainees was taking place is extremely troubling.

"Given that profits reduced when G4S had to increase staffing and training after the Panorama programme, this raises very serious questions about G4S's running of the centre to make higher profits whilst not having proper staffing, training and safeguarding systems in place."

She confirmed that the committee will further pursue both G4S and the Home Office.

Despite the problems, the NAO found that G4S "broadly delivered" on the terms of the contract.