Westminster: Parliamentarians to hold inquiry into immigration detention

Yarls Wood Detention Centre

A cross-party panel of parliamentarians will hold an inquiry into the use of immigration detention, it was announced today (Monday 7 July). The inquiry, which will be chaired by Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Teather, will examine the use of detention in the UK immigration and asylum systems, with a particular focus on the conditions within detention centres, the impact on individual detainees and their families, the wider financial and social consequences, how detention is used in other countries, and the future role of detention within the immigration system.

The inquiry, which will be jointly run by the APPG on Refugees and the APPG on Migration, will hold several oral evidence sessions in parliament. The panel invites written evidence from interested groups and individuals, including those who have experience of being detained for immigration purposes.

The members of the panel are: Sarah Teather MP; Paul Blomfield MP; David Burrowes MP; Caroline Spelman MP; Jon Cruddas MP; Julian Huppert MP; Richard Fuller MP; Baroness Lister; Baroness Hamwee; Lord Ramsbotham and Lord Lloyd of Berwick.

Commenting on the launch of the inquiry, panel chair Sarah Teather said: “I am very pleased that we are launching this inquiry today. In the light of several high profile incidents within detention centres, including sexual abuse and deaths, there is a clear need for parliamentary scrutiny of how and why we detain people for immigration purposes.”

Chair of the APPG on Migration, Paul Blomfield MP, added: “This is an important issue and this inquiry is very timely. I hope that we will receive evidence from a wide range of individuals and groups, including those who have been detained themselves.”

At the end of December 2013 2,796 people were being held in detention centres in the UK, a 4% rise from December 2012. In addition, migrants are routinely detained under immigration powers in prisons. For example, 790 migrants were kept in prisons solely under immigration powers as of 3 June 2014.

The Immigration Act 1971 was the first law to include the power to detain immigrants. Detainees are held by the administrative authority of Home Office officials and there is no time limit on how long individuals can be detained under these powers. Guidance suggests that detention pending removal from the UK should only take place when removal is ‘imminent’, however, evidence suggests that people are held in detention for long periods of time.

During the year ending March 2014, 29,801 people left detention. Of these, 18,115 (61%) had been in detention for less than 29 days, 5,703 (19%) for between 29 days and two months and 4,127 (14%) for between two and four months. Of the 1,856 (6%) remaining, 175 had been in detention for between one and two years and 39 for two years or longer.

Updates on the inquiry will be available on twitter: @APPGRefugees and online at www.detentioninquiry.com