Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 20 February 2018 to Question 127772, whether her Department was aware of concerns about detainee welfare at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre before the BBC alerted it to the specific issues raised on Panorama on 24 August 2017.

As my earlier answer of 20 February 2018 to the honourable member stated, detainee welfare concerns in Immigration Removal Centres can be raised at any point, to the Home Office, NHS (England) or the custodial supplier as appropriate. The BBC first made the Home Office aware of the specific issues later aired by Panorama on 24 August 2017. The Government takes the health and welfare of immigration detainees very seriously and expects the highest standards from those who manage the detention estate on its behalf.