Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many incidents of (a) self-harm, (b) suicide and (c) attempted suicide have been been recorded at Heathrow Immigration Removal Centre in each of the last two years.

In relation to the provision of healthcare in immigration removal centres (IRC), we take our responsibilities towards detained individuals’ health and welfare seriously. All IRCs have dedicated health facilities run by doctors and nurses commissioned by NHS England and delivered to the equivalent quality standards as services are in the community.

Every detained individual arriving at an IRC receives an initial healthcare screening within 2 hours of their arrival which identifies any immediate or long-term healthcare risks. Unless they decline, detained individuals in IRCs are given an appointment with a doctor within 24 hours. Clinical pathways into other healthcare services are initiated at this point depending on the outcomes of the reception screen, for example into mental health services. Detained individuals have full access to the 24-hour on-site healthcare team during their stay in the IRC. Continuation of healthcare provision is included in contingency planning to ensure access to healthcare in unexpected incidents or circumstances.

All incidents of self-harm are treated very seriously, and every step is taken to prevent incidents of this nature. The Home Office requires IRC service providers to record management information on the number of incidents of self-harm that have required medical treatment. Information on incidents of self-harm which do not require medical treatment, or specifically, where the intent of the self-harm attempt is suicide, is not readily available from central statistical records.

The Home Office publishes data on the number of deaths of people detained under immigration powers. Data for each year from 2017, are published in Migration Statistics Det_05 of the Detention summary tables. In the period 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2021 (the latest two-year period for which published information is available), there were no deaths of individuals detained in the Heathrow IRCs. The next annual data set regarding deaths of people detained under immigration powers, covering 2022, will be published later this year.