Overview

• Mitie listed roles at the Heathrow immigration removal centre including floristry, balloon craft, cake decorating, hairdressing, painting tutor and a gym manager, with salaries around £31,000 to £38,873, and some adverts remained live.
• Immigration minister Seema Malhotra said the department has asked for the posts to be scrapped and instructed officials to get Mitie to remove them, though it has not specified which roles will be cut.
• Conservative politicians attacked the spending, pointing to about £165,000 a year for several roles, while Health minister Stephen Kinnock said contractual obligations had been over-interpreted and welcomed the instruction to delete the ads.
• Mitie defended activity programmes as helping residents manage detention stress, citing recent HM Inspectorate of Prisons findings that detailed pressures including staff shortages, delays to mental health support and drug ingress.
• The roles relate to services provided under Mitie’s 2014 £290 million Home Office contract, as the government advertises a new Heathrow tender valued at up to about £420 million.