§ Jeremy CorbynTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many asylum seekers were held in detention under immigration regulations at the most recent available date; and of these how many were appealing against removal. [25825]
§ Angela Eagle[holding answer 9 January 2002]: The latest available information on the number of persons detained under Immigration Act powers relates to 30 September 2001. As at that date, 1,330 persons (to the nearest five) who are recorded as having claimed asylum at some stage were being detained, which includes 145 persons detained under dual Immigration Act and other powers but excludes persons detained in police cells.
I regret that information on the stage of application of detained asylum seekers is not available except by examining individual case files at disproportionate cost, so it is not possible to determine how many detained asylum seekers were appealing against removal as at 30 September.
96WInformation on Immigration Act detainees as at 29 December 2001 will be published on 28 February 2002 on the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/ immigration1.html.
The temporary use of local prison establishments to hold immigration detainees is scheduled to end by the end of January.
§ Martin LintonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on his plans for the detention of asylum seekers in prisons. [27384]
§ Mr. BlunkettBy the end of January immigration detainees held in local prisons will, if their detention is to continue, be transferred to immigration removal centres. This has been made possible by the opening of three new removal centres at Harmondsworth, near Heathrow, Dungavel in Lanarkshire, and at Yarlswood in Bedfordshire.
Additionally immigration detainees are held in two dedicated prison establishments: a unit in Her Majesty's Prison Lindholme, near Doncaster; and Her Majesty's Prison Haslar. I am taking steps to establish these as immigration removal centres under the control of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate of the Home Office as from February. Detainees in these establishments will be subject to Detention Centre Rules, rather than the Prison Rules as at present. It may take some time before the facilities in the new centres match those of other removal centres, but that is our intention.
Asylum seekers are also detained in two wings of Her Majesty's Prison Rochester. These detainees will be transferred to other immigration removal centres by the end of January. A new removal centre will be established at Her Majesty's Prison Dover in the spring.
It will always remain necessary to hold small numbers of immigration detainees including asylum seekers in prisons for reasons of security, or who are awaiting deportation on conclusion of a prison sentence. Any asylum seeker who is held on suspicion of having committed a criminal offence, or is serving a custodial sentence will also be held in prison.