§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many people were being detained on 28 February who had sought asylum at some stage, broken down by(a) length of detention and (b) immigration status. [44039]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienThe available information, relating to 27 February 1998, is given in the table:
222W
Number of people recorded as being detained1,2 on 27 February 1998 who had sought asylum at some stage, by length of detention3 and immigration status Length Port Illegal entrants Subject to deportation action Total 0–1 Month1 69 169 4 242 1–2 Months 46 86 1 133 2–6 Months 148 127 11 286 6–12 Months 21 34 15 70 12 Months+ 8 6 7 21 Total 292 422 38 752 1 Persons detained solely under the powers contained in Schedule 2 or 3 of the Immigration Act 1971 2 These figures include people who have been in detention for less than a month. Because of the delay in recording receptions into, and releases from, detention and the large number of persons detained for a short period, the figures should be used with caution 3 In some cases the date a person enters detention may be understated due to the method of recording.
§ Mr. BurstowTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 26 March 1998,Official Report, column 232, if he will list the criteria on the basis of which asylum seekers detained under the Immigration Acts are classified as Category A status. [44041]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienUnder an agreement with the Prison Service, a number of places are made available for immigration detainees in Prison Service establishments other than Haslar and Rochester. These prisons may also contain Category A accommodation as well as accommodation of other categories.
Prison staff are required to identify those prisoners charged with certain serious offences which are listed in section 36 of Part C of the Prison Service Manual on Security. A copy of the Manual is available in the Library. The cases of those prisoners charged with such offences which meet any one or more of a list of specified criteria, also set out in the Security Manual, are reported to Prison Service Headquarters where it is decided whether the inmate should be placed in Category A.
In the interests of public protection, the guidance and criteria set out in the Security Manual are also applied to administrative detainees, which includes persons detained under the Immigration Act 1971, who are believed to have been involved in the commission of serious offences abroad. The overriding consideration must be the safety of the public and the lack of potential dangerousness presented by the individual prisoner.