The Government has instructed a contractor to remove certain jobs at an immigration removal centre from a recruitment website after advertisements for floristry and hairdressing tutors emerged.
Outsourcing firm Mitie, which manages the Heathrow immigration removal centre (IRC) near the west London airport, listed several roles online including a painting and decorating tutor and gym manager at the IRC for salaries that range between £31,000 and £38,000.
One of the job descriptions includes responsibilities to deliver workshops in floristry, cake decorating, balloon-craft and arts and craft activities to “provide a safe, secure, stimulating, supportive and productive environment for residents”.
Home Office minister Seema Malhotra said: “We do not believe all these roles are necessary and have told the Home Office to speak to Mitie to remove them.”
The Government department has not yet clarified which jobs Mitie has been directed to remove, and a number of roles remain listed on the Government’s find-a-job portal.
On its website, Mitie said it aims to “treat those in our care with dignity, decency, and respect” and provide an environment for residents to “engage in activities relevant to them”.
Health minister Stephen Kinnock said there had been “excessive interpretation” of contractual obligations.
He told LBC: “My understanding of it is, they’re contractually obliged to have some kind of physical exercise, because you want to make sure that people aren’t falling into ill health, because that just makes it even worse for the taxpayer if we’re having to deal with that kind of thing.
“But it seems that there’s been an excessive interpretation of those contractual obligations and Seema Malhotra, the immigration minister, I’m very pleased to say, has rapidly responded to this and instructed Mitie to delete those jobs, and that is a good move on her part.”
The Heathrow IRC combines Colnbrook and Harmondsworth removals centres and is, according to Mitie, the largest IRC in Europe with a capacity of 965 residents.
A spokesperson for the company said: “As part of our contractual obligations, we employ colleagues to run activities at Heathrow Immigration Removal Centre to support the physical and mental wellbeing of detained individuals.
“The impact of these services was highlighted in the recent HMIP (HM Inspectorate of Prisons) report into Harmondsworth, which said that these provisions contributed to a greater overall focus on helping individuals to manage the stresses of detention.”
Last year, the watchdog branded conditions at Harmondsworth the “worst” in the country, with the chief inspector of prisons Charlie Taylor describing the “chaos” he discovered there as “truly shocking”.
