NOW – After more than 8 months of resistance, the Home Office has been forced by the Information Commissioner to release the agenda headings from five National Asylum Stakeholder Forum (NASF) and Strategic Engagement Group (SEG) meetings held between March 2023 and March 2024.
These are the meetings where the Home Office regularly discussed asylum accommodation policy, hotel maximisation, cessations, withdrawals, the Illegal Migration Act, dispersal, and support rates with external stakeholders.
The disclosure only came after the ICO issued a formal decision notice requiring the Home Office to release the agenda headings.
Originally, the Home Office refused the request outright. In doing so, they explicitly cited my social media activity and identity as reasons for withholding the information, claiming it could cause “public backlash” and safety risks.
This directly breached the applicant-blind principle under the Freedom of Information Act.
They also refused even basic agenda headings and anonymised summaries at the time. (1/2)