PQs - February 2018

Parliamentary Questions asked of Government and answered in February 2018:
 
27 February 2018: HC 129313 (Brook House Immigration Removal Centre)

Shadow Minister for Immigration Afzal Khan (Labour, Manchester Gorton) asked the Home Secretary whether her Department was aware of concerns about detainee welfare at Brook House IRC before the BBC alerted her to the specific issues raised on Panorama on 24 August 2017.

Minister for Immigration Caroline Nokes replied but did not answer, repeating what she said in answer to question 127772 on 20 February 2018.

 

26 February 2018: HC Volume 636 (Oral Answers to Questions)

Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott (Labour, Hackney North and Stoke Newington) spoke about her recent visit to Yarl's Wood IRC. She raised concerns about the quality of medical care available there, the fact that women victims of trafficking and sexual abuse are still being detained and that women in the centre are on hunger strike, even though "the Home Office refuses to admit" so. Diane Abbott asked to meet with the Home Secretary to discuss her concerns.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd (Conservative, East Sussex) replied that she is happy to meet with Diane Abbott to discuss further. She concluded "Immigration detention centres play an important part in enforcing our immigration rules. Some of the people there are very dangerous, and it is right that they are detained and then removed."

 

20 February 2018: HC 127774 (Immigrants: Detainees)

Shadow Minister for Immigration Afzal Khan (Labour, Manchester Gorton) asked how many people who are "survivors of sexual and gender-based violence or otherwise recognised as vulnerable under the Adults at Risk policy have been brought to immigration detention centres since 12 September 2016." Minister for Immigration Caroline Nokes said that such information is "not held centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost."

 

20 February 2018: HC 127773 (Brook House Immigration Removal Centre)

Shadow Minister for Immigration Afzal Khan (Labour, Manchester Gorton) asked the Home Secretary "what assessment her Department has made of what led to concerns about detainee welfare at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre." Minister for Immigration Caroline Nokes responded: "The Government made an immediate assessment that G4S needed to take swift action against an agreed action plan to address necessary improvements at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre." She said that progress against this plan is being monitored. 

Nokes also raised the second Stephen Shaw review, looking at the welfare of vulnerable people in detention and also Government plans to implement action in response to recommendations made by the Independent Monitoring Board.

Finally, "the G4S Board has commissioned an independent review to establish the factors affecting staff morale and behaviour and attitudes to whistleblowing.... The Government will consider their findings very carefully in due course."

 

20 February 2018: HC 127772 (Brook House Immigration Removal Centre)

Shadow Minister for Immigration Afzal Khan (Labour, Manchester Gorton) asked when the Home Office first became aware of detainee welfare concerns at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre. Minister for Immigration Caroline Nokes replied that the BBC first made the Home Office aware of the issues later raised in Panorama on the 24th of August 2017, 11 days before it aired. She added that welfare concerns can be raised at any point "to the Home Office, NHS (England) or the custodial supplier" and that the government takes such issues very seriously.

 

20 February 2018: HC 127393 (Immigrants: Detainees)

Neil Coyle (Labour, Bermondsey & Old Southwark) asked the Home Secretary what steps she had taken to reduce the number of deaths of detainees held in immigration detention centres. Minister for Immigration Caroline Nokes replied in detail. She raised the Adults at Risk policy that came out in response to the Stephen Shaw review into welfare of vulnerable people in detention, as a means of assessing the appropriateness of detention for individuals. 

Health services should be equivalent of what is accessible in the community. People receive a mental and physical health check up within 24 hours of arriving in detention. There is a process for staff to report any change in someone's wellbeing that might impact the decision to detain (known as Rule 35).

Nokes said that staff are trained to recognise self-harm and every effort is taken to prevent this. Every death in detention is subject to an investigation by the police, the coroner and the independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman. "Every effort is made to learn lessons from these investigations."

 

14 February 2018: HL 5540 (Asylum: Deportation)

Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat) asked the Government how much notice failed asylum seekers are given to leave the UK. Baroness Williams of Trafford said that there is "no specific notice period for failed asylum seekers to leave the UK" but that those with no leave to remain are expected to leave voluntarily at the earliest opportunity. Those who refuse to leave voluntarily will be issued with a 'notice of liability for removal', which sets out that they can be removed after 7 days if not detained, and 72 hours if detained. Families are treated differently and are given a minimum of two weeks notice.

 

9 February 2018: HL 5141 (Asylum: Children)

Lord Roberts of Llandudno (Liberal Democrat) asked the Government how much notice unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are given before detention, and deportation. Baroness Williams of Trafford said that unaccompanied children may only be detained in a very limited number of exceptional circumstances and not in immigration removal centres. She also said that they do not return them either.

 

7 February 2018: HC 126215/126217 (Asylum: Detainees)

Sammy Wilson (DUP, East Antrim) asked the Home Secretary what plans the Home Office has to review its policy on detention for asylum seekers who claim to be victims of torture and whether she plans to revise the definition of torture used in the Home Office's at risk policy "in light of that definition being ruled unlawful by the High Court." Minister for Immigration Caroline Nokes replied that the Government is considering how it can address the Court's findings on the Adults at Risk policy. She said that there will be "consideration of the definition of torture that should apply in the policy." but that the court did not find the current definition of torture unlawful, just the definition used between September and December 2016.She stated that "the [Adults at Risk] policy already covers asylum seekers who claim to have been the victim of torture and will continue to do so."

 

7 February 2018: HC 126214 (Asylum: Detainees)

Sammy Wilson (DUP, East Antrim) asked how many asylum seekers who have claimed to be a victim of torture have been detained at immigration centres. Caroline Nokes said that this information is "not currently published." She made note of the Adults at Risk policy and the training Home Office officials receive so to better consider evidence of torture in an asylum claim.

 

6 February 2018: HL 4828 (Detention Centres)

Lord Lipsey (Labour) asked the government how many immigration detention estate Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) reports for 2016 they have not yet replied to. Baroness Williams of Trafford replied that "there were eleven Independent Monitoring Board reports they’ve all been published. Ministerial responses will be provided shortly."

 

6 February 2018: HC 126178 (Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons Review)

Joan Ryan (Labour, Enfield North), in follow up to her question from 29 January, asked the Home Secretary if she will publish an assessment of the potential merits of the recommendations made in the forthcoming Shaw review before publication of the updated guidance on the Adults at Risk policy. Minister for Immigration Caroline Nokes replied that the Government is currently considering the High court ruling from 10 October 2017 on the Adults at Risk policy. She said that "Home Office officials will shortly be meeting a range of bodies with an interest in immigration detention as part of the process of revising the guidance. The Home Office will also carefully consider any further recommendations or findings made by Stephen Shaw."

 

5 February 2018: HC 125944 (Deportation: Vietnam)

Vernon Coaker (Labour, Gedling) asked the Home Secretary how many Vietnamese children were arrested and deported from the UK between 2012 and 2017. Minister for Immigration Caroline Nokes replied that the Home Office does not return unaccompanied minors unless they can confirm there are appropriate reception arrangements in the country which they will be returned to. She then provided statistics from the Government website on Vietnam returns (both enforced and voluntary) (below).

              'Enforced Removals'          'Voluntary Removals'

2012                  589                                            -

2013                  468                                            -

2014                  303                                          113

2015                  216                                          104

2016                  191                                          106

Total                 1767                                         323

 

5 February 2018: HC 125228 (Immigrants: Detainees)

Ruth George (Labour, High Peak) asked how many immigration detainees from outside the EU were returned from the UK to an EU country in 2016 and 2017. Minister for Immigration Caroline Nokes replied that this information was not readily available and could not be obtained without searching individual case histories at disproportionate cost. She gave information on returns and on detention from the Government website.