Asylum: LGBT People
(asked on 24th February 2020) - View Source
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the risks to LGBT+ detainees in immigration removal centres.
The UK has a proud record of providing protection for asylum seekers fleeing persecution because of their sexual orientation. Each case is considered on its individual merits, with all available evidence carefully and sensitively considered in light of published country information.
Decisions on claims based on sexual orientation are reviewed by a second experienced caseworker as an additional safeguard.
Migrants, including asylum claimants, may be detained for immigration purposes only in accordance with Home Office detention policy, as set out in Detention general guidance and adults at risk in immigration detention. The detention decision must always be made on the basis of the individual’s particular circumstances and eligibility for detention.
All immigration removal centres take a strategic approach to equality and diversity, with identification, monitoring and support for all detainees with protected characteristics. Every detainee receives an individual risk assessment at the point of initial detention which is repeated when the detainee enters the immigration removal centre. The risk assessment is kept under review.
Guidance is available for Home Office and supplier staff on providing consistent standards of treatment for LGB detainees. This is provided in Detention Services Order 2/2016 ‘Lesbian, gay and bisexual detainees in the detention estate’ which is available on the gov.uk website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/lesbian-gay-and-bisexual-detainees
Where transsexual individuals are detained, Detention Services Order 11/2012 on the ‘Care and Management of Transsexual Detainees’ sets out how individuals with these particular protected characteristics should be safeguarded and treated in detention. This can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/caring-for-and-managing-transsexual-detainees
The UK only ever returns those who both the Home Office and the Courts are satisfied do not need our protection and have no legal basis to remain in the UK.
We do not currently hold the data in the format you have requested, however published data is available on the number of individuals held in immigration detention and those that are returned, including the sexuality of the number of applicants and decisions made. Details of the number of Asylum claims made is also published, the data can be found at:
Under section 8 (detentions and returns) and section 10 (Asylum on the basis of sexual orientation):
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/asylum-and-resettlement-datasets