'Asylum blaze reveals Blunkett's haste'

The devastating blaze at the Yarl's Wood detention centre lays bare the disastrous haste of government attempts to fast-track changes to asylum policy, a report reveals today.

The first official probe into the February blaze - which insurers say caused £97million of damage to the three-month-old flagship detention centre near Bedford - lambasts Home Secretary David Blunkett for circumventing normal planning rules.

Some 384 detainees - many illegal immigrants or who had their bids for asylum rejected - were being held at the centre, run by private security firm Group 4, when a blaze broke out on the evening of 14 February. Forty detainees escaped and 16 are still unaccounted for.

The 100-page cross-party report by Bedfordshire County Council calls for the establishment of an inspectorate to scrutinise all immigration centres as part of a series of measures to "restore confidence in the system".

It is published on the day former Tory home secretary Kenneth Clarke warned that building immigration centres in rural areas would bring crime to local villages.

Bedfordshire council leader Philip Hendry told the Evening Standard: "The Government made some huge blunders, not least in the people they sent there. The Secretary of State recently acknowledged there were people there who should never have been at Yarl's Wood. People with criminal records were there."

He said that Group 4, the private security firm which ran the centre, had been unaware of this. "They didn't have any of the previous records of these people. It was so wrong - we were promised there wouldn't be anybody at Yarl's Wood like that."

Mr Hendry said that because Yarl's Wood was built on Crown land, the Government was able to circumvent usual planning and safety regulations. The complex was not fitted with water sprinklers - an omission which he said "beggars belief ". It also meant that fire and police had to wait 20 minutes to gain permission to the site when the blaze broke out.

"Not only was it set up in haste, it wasn't set up by going through the normal planning process because it was Crown property. We think that Crown property should not be immune as far as planning applications are concerned," Mr Hendry said.

Today's report recommends that:

? All detention centres should be fitted with sprinklers linked to the emergency services;

? Lists of detainees should be updated regularly, and should include details of the number of people in detention, their country of origin and length of stay;

? Back-up records of detainees should be held off-site;

? Weekly fire evacuation drills should be held because of the high turnover of detainees.

The report also calls on the Government to support Bedfordshire Police Authority in its " vigorous defence" of a claim for damages from Group 4's insurers for £97 million, and said that any costs should be paid not by local taxpayers but out of the public purse.

The claim against the police is being made under the 1886 Riot Damages Act.

A criminal investigation into the fire and " disturbance", in which police officers came under attack, is expected to be completed in four to five weeks.

Mr Hendry said he understood that Mr Blunkett was determined to rebuild Yarl's Wood, which is standing empty, but that this was being hampered by difficulties over reinsuring the building.