15th Special Report - Immigration detention: Government Response to the Committee’s Fourteenth Report

This is the government's response, published 6 September 2019.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Government states that it is "unable to agree to all" of the Committee's recommendations, accepting some and rejecting others while pointing to its programme of detention reforms.

• On a maximum 28-day time limit, it rejects the recommendation, saying a limit would "severely constrain" immigration control, and it is "clear that there is insufficient evidence to justify such a change".
• On judicial review of initial detention decisions within 72 hours, it rejects the recommendation, saying the case has not been made for a "radical redesign", but will "carefully review" the outcome of its two-month automatic bail referral pilot.
• On Rule 35, it accepts the "broad thrust" of the recommendations and states that a dedicated central team, independent of the original detention decision makers, is "expected to be established by mid August 2019".
• On the Adults at Risk policy, it rejects recommendations 13, 14, 16 and 17 but accepts 15, supporting an annual review by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error