HC Deb 06 December 1999 vol 340 cc556-7
21. Mr. Jeremy Corbyn (Islington, North)

When Oakington detention centre will be opened. [99696]

The Minister of State, Home Office (Mrs. Barbara Roche)

We are aiming to open the centre early in the new year, but it is likely to take a few months to build up to full capacity.

Mr. Corbyn

I thank the Minister for that answer. What details about the administration of the Oakington detention centre will be made public, and how many people will be detained in it throughout its life? Does she accept that many people in this country and in other parts of the world find it fundamentally disgraceful that this country still imprisons a large number of asylum seekers? Ours is the only country in Europe routinely to hold asylum seekers in detention.

Mrs. Roche

I totally agree with my hon. Friend. We detain about 1 per cent. of asylum seekers. The centre will have the capacity to take up to 400 people, but we expect to build it up gradually. It will be a reception facility that will process straightforward applications—we are talking about a seven-day period. The question that my hon. Friend must ask himself is how European Union countries deal with unfounded asylum cases, because they all face that problem. We must have this system in place to deal properly with genuine refugees and to progress their cases.

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