Home Office wanted emergency overseas workers to man migrant barge outbreak

Bibby Stockholm: Legionella bacteria in water on migrant barge

The Home Office considered drafting in foreign workers using an emergency visa waiver scheme in the event of an infection outbreak on the Bibby Stockholm migrant barge, documents have revealed.

A Freedom of Information request by the Guardian showed meetings between the Home Office’s contractors and health officials involved discussions around the plan, flagging health concerns weeks before Legionella was discovered in the water system.

Minutes from a meeting on June 14 read: “Visa waiver scheme being worked on by Home Office to cover surge staffing in the event of an outbreak”.

“Visa fast track approved, waiver to be discussed [14 June].”

A handful of migrants were moved on to the barge on August 7 as part of the Government’s “small boats week”, only for them to be removed a few days later due to the Legionella scare.

READ MORE: Top minister fails to answer simple Bibby Stockholm Legionella questions

It is not known when the Home Office will move asylum seekers back onto the barge.

Home Office sources confirmed to the Guardian that there were no eventual plans for a visa-waiver scheme as described in the meeting minutes.

The department faced difficult questions following the removal of the migrants, around when ministers had been informed, with senior ministers floundering when confronted about the timetable.

Council officials told the Home Office about the Legionella discovery last Tuesday, but migrants weren’t removed from the barge until the following Friday.

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Tests were carried out on July 25 by Dorset Council, with initial results coming back last Monday – the same day the first migrants boarded the barge.

The council then said it informed the contractors operating the barge that same day, adding it “verbally” told a Home Office official on Tuesday, a day later.

A spokesman for the council said it was the responsibility of the barge contractors to “keep the Home Office informed of such matters”, adding “decisions about who is on board the vessel are the responsibility of the barge operator and the Home Office”.

A meeting was then held on Thursday and the evacuation of the boat was ordered, at which point the Home Office’s officials told ministers.

The outbreak concern disclosed by the document raises questions about how the Home Office and health officials would handle an infectious outbreak on board the barge, including from scabies, dither or Covid.

A doctor involved in the meetings said: “I have serious concerns about the capacity for existing primary care services to manage significant outbreaks, especially in the winter months”.

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