Source · Select Committees · Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 26
26
Accepted in Part
Paragraph: 167
Abandon plans for detaining asylum-seeking children and mitigate risks for vulnerable adults in detention.
Recommendation
The prolonged detention with no certainty of release of asylum-seeking people who pose no threat to the public and for whom there is little prospect of removal from the UK is potentially harmful, impractical and costly. We are deeply concerned that current and planned reforms in the Nationality and Borders Act and Illegal Migration Bill risk turning back the clock on policies intended to ensure detention 76 Equality and the UK asylum process is used only as a last resort, and to reduce the risks of harm to vulnerable people. We recommend the Government set out in response to this Report its planned approach to mitigating risks of harm to vulnerable adults in detention under Nationality and Borders Act and Illegal Migration Bill provisions, including whether it remains committed to the Adults at Risk in detention policy established after the Shaw reviews in 2016 and 2018. The Government has not yet set out its planned approach to the detention of children under Illegal Migration Bill provisions. We strongly believe the Government should abandon any intention of detaining asylum-seeking children under those provisions.
Government Response Summary
The government confirms its commitment to the Adults at Risk in Immigration Detention policy to mitigate harm to vulnerable adults. However, it rejects abandoning the detention of asylum-seeking children, instead outlining limited circumstances under the Illegal Migration Act where such detention may occur, and noting that children will mostly be transferred to local authority care with provisions for early immigration bail.
Paragraph Reference:
167
Government Response
Accepted in Part
HM Government
Accepted in Part
In relation to the recommendation at paragraph 167, detention plays a key role in maintaining effective immigration controls and securing the UK’s borders, particularly in connection with the removal of people who have no right to remain in the UK but who refuse to leave voluntarily. Our detention policy is clear that detention must only be for the shortest period necessary. We have made significant reforms over the past few years in line with the recommendations in Stephen Shaw’s reviews. The introduction of the Adults at Risk in Immigration Detention policy in September 2016 strengthened the presumption against the detention of vulnerable people. A person identified as vulnerable under the policy may only be detained where evidence of their vulnerability is outweighed by immigration factors in their particular case. The Government has been clear throughout the passage of the Illegal Migration Act that the Adults at Risk in Immigration Detention policy will remain in place, although it will be updated to work with the provisions in the Illegal Migration Act. We recognise the particular vulnerability of unaccompanied children and therefore the Act provides that the statutory detention powers may only be exercised to detain an unaccompanied child in circumstances prescribed in regulations made by the Secretary of State, such as, but not limited to, for the purpose of family reunion or where removal is to a safe country of origin. It is worth noting that unaccompanied children are not subject to the duty to remove and the power to remove them will only be exercised in limited circumstances, so for the most part unaccompanied children will not be detained under the provisions of this Act but will instead be quickly transferred to local authority care. Where unaccompanied children are detained for the purpose of removal, the Act now provides that the First-tier Tribunal will be able to consider granting immigration bail after eight days for unaccompanied children, rather than the 28-days which applies to other cohorts.