"A year ago, as researchers from the universities of Liverpool, Nottingham, Sheffield and York, we set out to build a deeper understanding of private sector involvement on the Channel border. ...The information was not easily accessible. ...We did, however, manage to find £3.5bn worth of government contracts distributed to firms to manage people arriving in the UK by small boats between 2017 and 2024. On top of this, we also uncovered over £1bn available in open tenders as of December 2024. We have now released all of this data in a publicly available spreadsheet as well as a report detailing all we believe we’ve learned." https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/exclusive-government-hands-private-firms-3bn-in-bid-to-stop-the-boats/