Blunkett acts over Standard revelations

David Blunkett has ordered a top-level internal inquiry into damning Evening Standard revelations about chaos in the asylum system.

We told yesterday how hundreds of temps from Office Angels had been drafted into front-line duties monitoring the movements of tens of thousands of asylum seekers in Britain.

And sources within the National Asylum Support Service (Nass), revealed a disturbing catalogue of shortcomings, including how "elite temps" were recruited after passing only basic typing, spelling and maths tests and given the task of checking on 30,000 "subsistence-only" asylum seekers to make sure they are entitled to benefits.

Asylum seekers were caught at work, but temps were powerless to halt support because they lacked resources to prove the illegal workers were cheating the system.

The Home Secretary has told Nass "poor performance is totally unacceptable" and demanded an investigation into the allegations.

"Any necessary action will be taken to solve the problems where we find them," a Home Office source said.