Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many times the Gold Suite has been opened at each Immigration Removal Centre in England and Wales in the last year; and what the nature was of each incident that caused it to be opened.

The Home Office command suite structure for the management of serious
incidents is based on the model operated by the Prison Service. Silver Command
Suites are opened in the establishment where the incident occurred.

A Gold Command Suite is opened in Prison Service Headquarters for incidents
where the Home Office requests mutual assistance from the Prison Service and is
attended by a Home Office senior manager.

Any other serious incident, which does not require mutual assistance but
requires ongoing management, is dealt with by opening a Gold Command Suite at
Detention Operations headquarters.

The number of times Silver Suites have been opened in the past year in
immigration removal centres is detailed in the table below for January 2013
to March 2014 and is provided in line with the data periods for published statistics.