Select committee: Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 26
Fourth Report - Equality and the UK asylum process
Published 27 Jun 2023
Paragraph 167
Addressed to Government Equalities Office
Women and Equalities Committee Equality and the UK asylum process All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
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.
From: Women and Equalities Committee, Fourth Report - Equality and the UK asylum process (HC 93), paragraph 167, 27 June 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 19 September 2023 (deadline 27 August 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government's response sets out its position recommendation by recommendation, accepting few of the Committee's calls for change and relying on existing policy, safeguards and reviews.
- On the Country Policy and Information Team, it considers that CPIT "can maintain and update high quality CPINs in a timely manner" and that "a discrete review of its performance is not necessary".
- On the 2019-20 internal review of sexual orientation and gender identity claims, it states: "we will not be publishing the main findings of the internal review".
- On asylum support, it does not consider that aligning payments with a proportion of Universal Credit "is appropriate". It reports an interim rise from £45 to £47.39 per week from 17 July, and says this year's review "is due to conclude later this year".
- On legal aid, it does "not accept the Committee's suggestion that there is insufficient access to legal advice and representation". It says the Ministry of Justice is undertaking a Review of Civil Legal Aid that will consider immigration.