Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Written Statement of 18 April 2016, on immigration detention, HCWS679, in what ways the policy to end the routine detention of pregnant women differs from the current policy that pregnant women should be detained only in exceptional circumstances.

Current policy is set out in paragraph 10 of Chapter 55 of the Home Office Enforcement Instructions and Guidance, which states that certain groups of individuals, including pregnant women, are normally considered suitable for detention in only very exceptional circumstances.

The Government announced in a Written Ministerial Statement on 14 January that it was introducing a new “adult at risk” concept into decision making on immigration detention, with a clear presumption that people who are at risk should not be detained, building on the existing legal framework. The Government has made a commitment to publish its “adult at risk” policy in May.

The new process announced in the Written Ministerial Statement on 18 April, will, if agreed by Parliament, provide an additional safeguard. It will provide absolute clarity that no woman who is known to be pregnant can be detained for longer than 72 hours, or, with Ministerial authorisation a maximum of a week. This puts in place the same safeguards as introduced in 2014 when the government put in place its policy to end the routine detention of children for immigration purposes.