Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect on people detained in immigration removal centres of there being no time limit on immigration detention.

Although there is no formal time limit on detention for the purposes of immigration removal, individuals cannot be detained indefinitely. However, the Government commissioned Stephen Shaw to carry out a review of the welfare of vulnerable people in immigration detention and, as part of this, Mr Shaw commissioned Professor Mary Bosworth to assess the evidence in respect of the impact of immigration detention on mental health. The Government has been taking forward reforms of immigration detention in the light of Mr Shaw’s report.