Brook House Immigration Removal Centre

(asked on 9th January 2018) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent steps the Government has taken to improve conditions at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre.


Answered by
Caroline Nokes Portrait
Caroline Nokes
This question was answered on 17th January 2018

The Government takes detainee welfare very seriously and expects the highest standards from those who manage the detention estate on its behalf.

We have made this clear to G4S who are implementing a programme to enhance staffing and management and an action plan to deliver wider improvements at Brook House. These include the introduction of body worn cameras, improvements to the detection and prevention of drugs entering the centre and ensuring activities and facilities at the centre preserve and promote the mental and physical well being of detainees. Progress against this plan is being closely monitored.

Stephen Shaw is currently undertaking a stock take of progress against the recommendations in his report into the Welfare in Detention of Vulnerable Persons published in January 2016. Brook House is within scope of this stock take. In addition, the G4S Board has also commissioned an independent review to establish the factors affecting staff morale and behaviour and attitudes to whistleblowing.

Independent scrutiny is a vital part of assurance that our removal centres are secure and humane and we will continue to implement action in response to independent recommendations made by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons and by the centre’s Independent Monitoring Board.

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