Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people detained at an immigration detention centre attempted suicide in 2019.

Staff at all immigration removal centres are trained to identify those at risk of self-harm so that action can be taken to minimise the risk. All incidents of self-harm are treated very seriously and every step is taken to prevent incidents of this nature. Formal risk assessments on initial detention and systems for raising concerns at any subsequent point feed into established self-harm procedures in every IRC, which are in turn underpinned by the Home Office Operating Standard on the prevention of self-harm and Detention Services Order 06/2008 Assessment Care in Detention Teamwork (ACDT).

The Home Office requires immigration removal centre suppliers to record management information on the number of detainees being monitored in line with self-harm and suicide prevention procedures (ACDT) and the number of incidents of self-harm that have required medical treatment. The intent of a self-harm attempt, if disclosed by an individual, is not recorded centrally and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.