Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many allegations of (a) sexual assault, (b) physical assault and (c) harassment by staff have been made by detainees in detention centres in each of the last five years.

We operate a comprehensive complaints process in immigration removal centres, residential and non-residential short-term holding facilities (STHFs), pre-departure accommodation (PDA) and during escort. Complaints are managed in line with published guidance ‘Handling complaints in immigration removal centres’ - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and are recorded under predetermined categories; service complaints, minor misconduct complaints or serious misconduct complaints.

Data on the overall number of complaints received in each category is included in published data at Customer service operations data: Q4 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).