Floristry and balloon craft classes for asylum seekers are to be scrapped amid a furious backlash from MPs.
It has emerged that hairdressing tutors and a gym boss were being hired for the Heathrow Immigration Removal Centre in Hillingdon, west London, where detainees include serious criminals.
According to The Sun, salaries for the four positions — plus a vocational skills tutor — amounted to a combined £165,000-a-year.
But Seema Malhotra, Labour’s migration and citizenship minister, has urged the faculties contractor to remove the openings from the Government’s Find A Job website.
She said: “We don’t believe all these roles are necessary and have told the Home Office to speak to Mitie to remove them.”
Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick accused the Government of having “lost the plot” amid a summer of discontent over taxpayer-funded hotels for migrants.
He said: “They’re so addicted to providing freebies that they’re even handing them out to foreign criminals when they’re about to be chucked out the county.
“It’s insane. These jobs should be withdrawn immediately and replaced by security officers that can increase deportations.”
The advertisement for the hospitality and floristry tutor said a key responsibility is “to proactively promote, design, and deliver workshops in relevant creative skills including floristry, cake decorating, balloon craft, (and) arts and craft activities to meet the needs of the residents”.
Meanwhile, the listing for a hairdressing tutor stated the main duties were “providing hair-cutting, dying hair and braiding services”.
They’re addicted to providing freebies
A “creatively-minded” painting tutor was asked to create a “stimulating, supportive and productive environment for residents that encourages them to attend and enables them to learn and develop their skills”.
And a gym manager was expected to “ensure a safe and secure environment is maintained” so detainees can access “purposeful activities throughout their stay”.
Mitie is required to provide recreational services to migrants as part of its £290million contract with the Government, which was signed in 2014.
Ministers are understood to be in the process of outsourcing the Heathrow tender to other firms, valuing the new contract at as much as £420million for an initial five years.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp commented: “Labour are pouring taxpayers’ money into perks when every effort should be on deportations.
"Hiring gym managers and balloon craft tutors for people who must be deported is indefensible and must be stopped immediately.
“If you come here illegally, you should not be rewarded with courses and comforts, you should be deported swiftly. Labour have scrapped deterrents, grounded enforcement, and are now treating removal centres like leisure centres.”
The two centres in West Drayton — Harmondsworth and Colnbrook — are based near London Heathrow Airport to allow easy transfers to deportation flights.
Combined, they are thought to be Europe’s largest, housing up to nearly 1,000 people at a time.
Both buildings reportedly have rooms containing televisions, gaming consoles and a shared “cultural kitchen”.
However, a recent report by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons found critical departments at both sites were short on staff, including mental health support.
A review at Harmondsworth last year by Charles Taylor said detainees were found smoking cannabis and staff had “all but stopped challenging smoking indoors”.
Mr Taylor said the conditions there were the “worst” in the country and described the “chaos” he discovered there as “truly shocking”.
He said: “There were too few staff and many lacked the experience, confidence and, in some cases, professionalism to manage poor behaviour.”
A spokesman for Mitie said of the four recreational activity roles: “The impact of these activities was highlighted in the recent HMIP report, which said that these provisions contributed to a greater overall focus on helping individuals to manage the stresses of detention.”
