“The proposed Bicester asylum centre was part of a £34 million project to house asylum seekers which collapsed before building work began, leaving a semi-derelict site”. 

“Police officers have every right to be angry that money that could have funded their pay rise was frittered away on this dead-end plan”.

Mr Bacon was speaking as the Commons public accounts committee published its report on the cancellation of the Bicester asylum centre.   

Between 2001–02 and 2005–06, the Home Office planned a purpose-built accommodation centre for asylum seekers at Bicester in Oxfordshire as part of a wider Home Office accommodation project for asylum seekers.  However, falling numbers of asylum applicants, rising costs and an improvement in the processing of asylum applications led to the cancellation of the Bicester centre in June 2005.  The Home Office spent £33.7 million on the accommodation project, including £29 million on the Bicester centre.  The report finds that the Bicester scheme did not deliver any benefit to taxpayers, and that the expected costs of the centre had outweighed its intended benefits from the start.

Earlier this year, the Home Office decided against backdating an agreed 2.5 per cent pay rise for police in England, Wales and Northern Ireland to September, meaning the rise only amounts to 1.9 per cent.  Funding the 2.5 per cent rise would cost £30 million.