MPs call on councils to act as children held “too long” in immigration detention centres

Local authorities must play a greater role in monitoring the length of time children stay in immigration detention centres, MPs have said.

A Home Affairs Select Committee report, The Detention of Children in the Immigration System, has revealed it is “not uncommon” for children to be detained for up to 61 days prior to deportation.

Almost 1,000 children a year are detained in UK Border Agency immigration detention centres, it said. On 30 June 2009, 10 of the 35 children in detention had been held from 29 days up to an “unacceptable” 61 days.

The MPs said they were troubled that the statistics for individual families with children to have been detained in the last year were not readily available.

“We recommend that when children are detained for any period of time, the local authority in which they are held is informed and then notified once the period of detention is complete,” the report said. “Not only will this improve the collection of statistical information, but it should also encourage local authorities to undertake their statutory responsibilities with regards to child welfare and encourage greater council and social services oversight of the wellbeing of the detained children.”

The MPs added that they failed to understand why, if detention is the final step in the asylum process, and there is no evidence of families systematically “disappearing” or absconding, families are detained pending judicial reviews and other legal appeals.

“The detention of children for indeterminate periods of time (possibly for 6-8 weeks), pending legal appeals must be avoided,” the report said. It added that the UKBA should – after a child has spent an initial fortnight in detention and every seven days thereafter – notify the Home Office and the Children’s Commissioner as to why detention is justified.

The committee also called for reform of the asylum legal process, highlighting that over 90% of judicial reviews do not even get leave for hearing. “We are extremely concerned at the multiple avenues of legal appeal available to detainees prior to their deportation. The government must look to reform of the legal system to ensure that the entire process is quicker, with much less scope for numerous, often spurious appeals.”

The MPs nevertheless acknowledged that 23% of initial decisions were overturned on appeal in asylum cases, and called for the system to not only be made more streamlined but also fairer, quicker and more transparent.