HC Deb 30 January 2004 vol 417 cc605-6W
Mrs. Brooke

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many individuals due for detention in(a) Yarls Wood and (b) other specialist immigration detention centres have been imprisoned in the prison estate in the past (i) 12 months and (ii) 24 months. [151079]

Beverley Hughes

[holding answer 26 January 2004]: Information on individuals detained in Prison Service establishments who were due to be detained in Immigration Removal Centres and on the number of individuals detained over a period is not available except by examination of individual case files at disproportionate cost.

The latest available data on the number of persons detained solely under Immigration Act 2002 powers relate to 27 September 2003. As at that date, 190 people were recorded as being detained in Prison Service establishments.

The figure of 190 may include individuals who are held pending deportation after completion of custodial sentences. Although the routine use of Prison Service accommodation for immigration detainees ended at the beginning of 2002, it may be necessary to continue to hold some individuals in Prison Service accommodation for reasons of security and control. Such decisions are taken on a case-by-case basis.

Information on Immigration Act 2002 detainees as at 27 December 2003 is due to be published at the end of February on the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate website at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html

Mrs. Brooke

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the(a) shortest and (b) longest period is that an individual due for detention in a specialist immigration detention centre has spent in detention in the prison estate; and what procedures are being implemented to ensure that immigrants who have not been convicted or accused of a crime or offence are not detained in the prison estate. [151080]

Beverley Hughes

[holding answer 26 January 2004]: I regret it is not clear exactly what figures the hon. Member is requesting and therefore I cannot say if they are available or not.

The routine use of prisons to hold immigration detainees ended at the beginning of 2002. However, in ending the routine use of prisons to hold detainees, it was made clear that there would continue to be a need to hold small numbers of individual detainees in prison for reasons of security and control. That remains the case.