New Clause 8 - Detention by Secretary of State
Asylum and Immigration (Treatment of Claimants, etc.) Bill
10:15 am
Mr Neil Gerrard (Walthamstow, Labour)
New clause 8, which stands in my name and that of the hon. Member for Perth (Annabelle Ewing), and new clause 13, which stands in the name of the hon. Member for Winchester, address the question of the detention of children. There are some differences between the two clauses. I shall address my remarks mainly to new clause 8, but the main difference is whether detention should be banned completely or whether there should be time limits. Common to both of the new clauses is the issue of how and when children should or should not be detained.
Much concern has been expressed about the detention of children. Her Majesty's inspector of prisons reported on conditions in immigration detention centres and raised some significant concerns about the detention of children in those centres. In response to that, the Government made some announcements in December, to which I will return later.
I hope we all agree that detention facilities would never be the best environment for children. No one would want to see children in detention facilities. Detention facilities would have a negative impact on children; I suspect we all agree with that. However, disagreements arise over whether there are
circumstances in which it would be reasonable and in which there would be no option other than to hold children in detention.
When children are detained, they are usually detained with one or sometimes both their parents. It is quite difficult to know the exact numbers or the lengths of time involved. Unfortunately, whenever one gets statistics on the detention of children—or on detention in general, although this is particularly the case when it comes to children—it is only possible to get snapshots and statistics that say how many children were in detention on a particular day. A figure of 81 children in detention was given in November last year; different figures are quoted at different times. It is extremely difficult to get any sort of reliable information about how long children are detained. We have all seen anecdotal evidence about individual cases, which sometimes involve quite long periods of detention. It is difficult to track what happens.
For some time, it was official policy that families would not be detained for more than a few days and that that detention would be specifically in the period before removal. However, the 2002 White Paper said that families could be detained for longer periods if necessary. In 1999, there was the possibility of an automatic bail hearing, which would have applied to families with children. It was never put into practice and was removed from the law by the 2002 Act.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees clearly states that refugee children should not be detained. That is the view of many of the groups that work with asylum seekers and refugees.