IAGCI Seeks Reviewer for Home Office Health Info Evaluation
Experts on comparative international healthcare provision are invited to submit expressions of interest by the close of 22 August 2025.
Section 48(2)(j) of the UK Borders Act 2007 provides that the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration (ICIBI) shall:
consider and make recommendations about … the content of information about conditions in countries outside the United Kingdom which the Secretary of State compiles and makes available, for purposes connected with immigration and asylum, to immigration officers and other officials.
To assist the Independent Chief Inspector in fulfilling this statutory role, a body of experts sitting as the Independent Advisory Group on Country Information (IAGCI) regularly reviews the Country of Origin Information (COI) products that are produced by the Home Office. The Home Office refers to COI where conditions in a foreign country are relevant to an immigration or asylum decision, for example when considering a claim for international protection under the Refugee Convention or immigration applications based on a human rights claim. The IAGCI’s reviews assess whether the content of COI is accurate, balanced, objective, and up-to-date, and they serve as the basis for an ICIBI inspection report.
In addition to reviewing the Home Office’s country policy and information notes (CPINs) and responses to country of origin information requests (COIRs) relating to individual countries, the IAGCI examines the way that ‘cross-cutting’ themes are dealt with across all of the COI issued by the department. In the past, thematic reports commissioned by the IAGCI examined coverage of such topics as issues related to children , sexual orientation and gender identity or expression , and statelessness .
At a forthcoming meeting, the IAGCI intends to consider the coverage of healthcare (including mental healthcare) and medical treatment in the COI produced by the Home Office. Country information on the availability and quality of healthcare and medical treatment is presented in numerous CPINs, including the following, which focus specifically on this area:
- Country policy and information note: medical treatment and healthcare, Afghanistan, October 2021
- Country information note: medical and healthcare provision, Albania, May 2023
- Country policy and information note: mental healthcare, Albania, January 2025
- Country policy and information note: medical treatment and healthcare, Bangladesh, July 2022
- Country policy and information note: medical treatment and healthcare, China, July 2022
- Country information note: medical treatment and healthcare, Ghana, August 2022
- Country policy and information note: medical and healthcare provision, India, April 2023
- Country policy and information note: medical and healthcare issues, Iran, June 2024
- Country policy and information note: medical and healthcare issues, Iraq, August 2024
- Country information note: medical treatment and healthcare, Nigeria, December 2021
- Country policy and information note: healthcare and medical treatment, Pakistan, July 2024
- Country information note: healthcare and medical treatment, Sri Lanka, December 2024
- Country policy and information note: mental healthcare, Vietnam, May 2021
- Country policy and information note: medical treatment and healthcare, Zimbabwe, April 2021
In its consideration of this coverage, the IAGCI wishes to assess the quality, accuracy, and completeness of the information provided on healthcare and medical treatment in individual countries; to evaluate the overall approach taken to compiling and presenting information on this area across the range of relevant CPINs; and to identify any significant gaps in the coverage of medical provision issues in Home Office COI.
To inform this discussion, the IAGCI seeks to commission a review paper to be prepared by an expert with in-depth knowledge of comparative healthcare systems. The reviewer commissioned to undertake this project will be an experienced researcher with demonstrated expertise in international healthcare. They will not be expected to be an expert on all countries concerned, but they should have an understanding of the relevance of information about healthcare and medical treatment to immigration and asylum decisions.
Description of work
The review paper will be a substantial piece of research that provides an assessment of the coverage of healthcare (including mental healthcare) and medical treatment in existing COI products, commenting on their:
Completeness: the extent to which relevant available information on healthcare (including mental healthcare) and medical treatment has been reflected in relevant CPINs. Additional publicly available sources should be identified where appropriate.
Accuracy and balance: whether relevant information from source material has been accurately and appropriately reflected in the CPIN, noting any specific errors or omissions.
Though the review paper need not necessarily provide a comprehensive assessment of every relevant CPIN, it should offer a comparative summary, noting the strengths and weaknesses of the available reports. The review paper should also comment, and offer any relevant recommendations, on the Home Office’s overall approach to compiling and presenting information on healthcare and medical treatment. In addition, the review paper should seek to identify where coverage of healthcare and medical treatment in Home Office COI could usefully be expanded, whether that might be within existing CPINs or through the production of new CPINs covering additional countries or covering specific healthcare and medical issues in greater depth.
While there is room for individual discretion in the way the researcher approaches the task and prepares a review, the IAGCI requires that these guidelines be followed:
The format and scope of the review should be agreed with the Chair of the IAGCI, and the reviewer will be expected to address any comments or suggestions the Chair may have on the final draft of the review.
The COI under review should be assessed in terms of the situation in the country up to the stated ‘cut off’ date for inclusion of information in the relevant CPIN; if the reviewer wishes to recommend reference to more recent material, the review should make clear that that material was not available at the time the relevant CPIN was produced.
Any suggestions
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/iagci-seeks-reviewer-to-evaluate-coverage-of-healthcare-and-medical-treatment-in-home-office-country-information