1.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Ta rget implementation date: February 2021 1.2 There are clear and established mechanisms for national and local engagement between the Home Office (the department) and its stakeholders and partners. UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) has dedicated MP account management teams. There is a national structure for engagement with local authorities headed by a Chief Executives group, and a national structure for engagement with the third sector headed by a Strategic Engagement Group. The department and its accommodation providers also engage intensively at a local level. These fora generally work well and are effective, although they have not always met the needs of stakeholders, especially during the initial period of the Covid-19 pandemic. 1.3 The department has listened to the feedback of the Committee and stakeholders and taken further steps to improve its engagement work. The department has also recently been consulting stakeholders on how to make its engagement more effective and is conducting lessons learned exercises to look at how it can be improved further. This will be reflected in the Directorate Engagement Strategy which will be shared with stakeholders.