THOUSANDS of pounds are being blown by the Home Office hiring staff to teach balloon craft and floristry to migrants facing the boot.
Painting and hairdressing tutors and a gym boss are also wanted for Heathrow Immigration Removal Centre, where detainees include serious criminals .




Salaries for the four roles plus a vocational skills tutor amount to £165,000-a-year.
Judges today rule on a Home Office appeal against the removal of migrants from a hotel in Epping.
Yesterday the Government department told the court that asylum seekers’ rights outweigh locals’ concerns.
The roles first appeared on the Government’s Find A Job website last week and are still available.
The combined £165,000-a-year spend was last night branded an insult to taxpayers.
Shadow Justice Secretary and Tory MP Robert Jenrick told The Sun: “The Government has lost the plot. They’re so addicted to providing freebies that they’re even handing them out to foreign criminals when they’re about to be chucked out the county. It’s insane.
“These jobs should be withdrawn immediately and replaced by security officers that can increase deportations.”
The advert for the hospitality and floristry tutor says a key responsibility is “to proactively promote, design, and deliver workshops in relevant creative skills including floristry, cake decorating, balloon craft, (and) arts and craft activities to meet the needs of the residents”.
Meanwhile, the listing for a hairdressing tutor says the main duties are “providing hair-cutting, dying hair and braiding services”.
A “creatively-minded” painting tutor will lead “paint parties” at the centre.
They are asked to create a “stimulating, supportive and productive environment for residents that encourages them to attend and enables them to learn and develop their skills”.
The Home Office is also advertising for a vocational skills tutor, also on £31,585 a year.
And the £38,873-a-year gym manager is expected to “manage a full activities timetable within the sport halls, gyms and courtyards”.
Labour are pouring taxpayers’ money into perks when every effort should be on deportations
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp
They must “ensure a safe and secure environment is maintained so detainees can access “purposeful activities throughout their stay”.
Facilities firm Mitie must provide recreational services to detainees as part of its £290million contract with the Home Office, signed in 2014.
The Government is in the process of advertising the Heathrow tender to other firms, valuing the new contract at as much as £420million for an initial five years.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “ Labour are pouring taxpayers’ money into perks when every effort should be on deportations. Hiring gym managers and balloon craft tutors for people who must be deported is indefensible and must be stopped immediately.


“If you come here illegally, you should not be rewarded with courses and comforts, you should be deported swiftly. Labour have scrapped deterrents, grounded enforcement, and are now treating removal centres like leisure centres.”
Two centres — Harmondsworth and Colnbrook — are based near Heathrow to allow easy transfers to deportation jets.
Combined, they are thought to be Europe’s largest.
Harmondsworth, which can house up to 658 people, was opened in 1970, while 300-person Colnbrook began housing residents in 2004.
Both have social rooms containing TVs, gaming consoles, a shared “cultural kitchen” and board games.
Migrants, including asylum seekers, can be housed in a removal centre before deportation or while their immigration status is resolved.
Home Office figures show 1,808 people are currently in UK detention centres.
The Heathrow hiring spree comes despite a damning report this year which found critical departments at both sites were short on staff.
Charlie Taylor, chief inspector of prisons , wrote of Colnbrook: “A shortage of staff meant detainees waited too long for mental health support, including assessments and psychological interventions.”
One in five detainees said drugs were easy to get, with Mr Taylor writing: “Ingress of drugs was a major issue and the amount of drugs and related paraphernalia found through searching had been increasing. There was still no comprehensive drug strategy, but it was in preparation in collaboration with the Home Office, and there was some evidence of recent progress.
“Improvements in detection equipment were planned and much needed in light of a more developed criminal market in drugs.”
A review at Harmondsworth last year said detainees were found smoking cannabis and staff had “all but stopped challenging smoking indoors”.
Mr Taylor said: “There were too few staff and many lacked the experience, confidence and, in some cases, professionalism to manage poor behaviour.”
Around two thirds of arrivals at Harmondsworth at the time had been taken directly from prison.
Home Office Minister Seema Malhotra said last night: “We don’t believe all these roles are necessary and have told the Home Office to speak to Mitie to remove them.”
Mitie said: “The impact of these activities was highlighted in the recent HMIP report, which said that these provisions contributed to a greater overall focus on helping individuals to manage the stresses of detention.”

Police 'non' on stopping boats
USELESS French police will defy orders to enter the sea to stop migrant dinghies departing for Britain — in another blow to the PM.
Union UN1TE will tell its members not to intercept the dinghies, or even get their feet wet, because they have not had any training.
General secretary Jean-Christophe Couvy said: “I don’t want a police officer to drown.”
In June, the French cabinet promised a law change so officers could halt boats within 300m of the coast.
UK officials call it a “gamechanger”.