HC Deb 22 July 2004 vol 424 c574W
Annabelle Ewing

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what conditions have been placed within his Department's contract with Reliance Monitoring Service to provide a system for tagging persons seeking asylum in relation to(a) the monitoring of families and (b) the monitoring of people under the age of 18 years. [183921]

Mr. Browne

Clause 36 of the Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants etc) Bill provides the legislative authority for electronic monitoring within the immigration context. Tagging is likely to be appropriate for those who would otherwise have been detained and will, therefore, be used as an alternative to detention.

A number of factors are taken into consideration when assessing the risk of a family absconding. These may result in one or both of the parents being subject to electronic monitoring.

Electronic Monitoring for immigration purposes will only be available to those who are 18 years of age and over.