The Home Office’s decision to use the Bibby Stockholm barge to accommodate asylum seekers generated controversy long before the first person set foot onboard.
But issues with its use came to a head on Friday when the government confirmed the asylum seekers were being evacuated just days after moving in because of legionella, a potentially deadly bacteria, being found in its water system. While officials have provided a plan to use an RAF base instead, many questions remain.
1) What checks were carried out before people boarded the barge?
Multiple concerns have been raised about the risk of fire and the difficulty in evacuating the barge in the event of an emergency. The Home Office has not confirmed whether or not the water system was checked and flushed through with chlorine before asylum seekers were placed on the barge.
2) Was a water hygiene and safety plan signed off beforehand?
An outbreak management plan drawn up by the sub-contractors, Landry & Kling, and shared with NHS Dorset, highlighted that there was no potable water storage on the vessel, but days before the legionella scandal broke Home Office sources said that was nothing to worry about.
3) The Home Office failed to be promptly alerted about the legionella. What happened?
Landry & Kling have not answered this question, instead signposting the Guardian to the Home Office for answers. There have been a variety of reports about who knew what and when, but it remains unclear exactly how many people knew about the legionella test result on Monday, when the council shared it with the contractors and whether or not any decision was taken to delay communicating this news.
It was certainly bad timing for the start of the government’s “small boats week” – which it intended to use to show progress on crossings – that legionella was discovered on board the barge it intends to use to deter them.
4) What protocols are in place between the Home Office and the contractor?
The Home Office has said it will publish the contract in due course but has not yet published details, beyond the fact that it is part of a £1.6bn contract with the Australian firm CTM, which the Independent revealed was awarded in February without competition.
The overall contract is for “bridging accommodation and travel services”.
5) Will the plumbing system be replaced before moving people back on to the barge?
Independent legionella experts have said that it is very difficult to eliminate once it has taken hold and that the ageing plumbing system on Bibby Stockholm may have dead legs, which means that even after the system has been flushed legionella could continue to be present.
The barge dates back to the 1970s and the Home Office declined to say what repairs were carried out before being towed to Portland. It said the barge had been subject to a Lloyd’s Register quality assurance inspection and certification and regulatory inspection by the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency.
The Home Office had not commented on the questions by the time of publication.
