Immigration: Detention of Children

Lord Roberts of Llandudno Excerpts

Monday 11th October 2010 Lords Chamber

Asked By

[Lord Roberts of Llandudno]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will end child detention in immigration cases.

[The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Neville-Jones)]

My Lords, I am unable to provide a date for the ending of detention of children for immigration purposes but we remain determined to end this practice as soon as possible. Working with NGOs, we are designing and testing alternative arrangements to protect children’s welfare while ensuring the return of families who have no right to be here. We are making significant progress.

[Lord Roberts of Llandudno]

I am grateful to the Minister for that Answer. Will she make available in the Library every week a list of the numbers of detained children, where they are detained and their ages, so that we can end this practice and monitor it if a list is available for us to refer to? Will she accompany three or four of us to Yarl’s Wood so that we can see the situation there for ourselves?

[Baroness Neville-Jones]

My Lords, it is perfectly reasonable to make these arrangements. We will certainly be glad to arrange a visit to Yarl’s Wood. The number of children in detention is either zero or two. I cannot give an exact figure as it depends on whether the two children in a family who knowingly entered the country illegally yesterday are still in detention; they may have been briefly. However, the numbers are very low.