Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether Manston Asylum Processing Centre is designated as a non-residential short term holding facility under the Short-term Holding Facility Rules 2018.

Manston operates as a non-residential short-term holding facility. In order to operate as a short-term holding facility (STHF), a site does not need to be designated as one. The Immigration (Places of Detention) Direction 2021 sets out the places in which people can lawfully be detained, and included within that are STHFs (both non-residential and residential STHFs) as set out in paragraph 3(1)(c) of the Direction. Only immigration removal centres are designated individually by name.

Immigration (Places of Detention) Direction 2021 (publishing.service.gov.uk)

The STHF Rules 2018 apply by default to Manston, minus the specific dis-applications/modifications for holding rooms set out in Rule 6 of the STHF Rules 2018 STHF-rules-operational-guidance-v1.0-EXT.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk). Rule 28 provides that individuals in STHFs must have access to a telephone to make calls, and the means to receive incoming telephone calls, which they must be notified of promptly. While their own mobile phones are securely stored with their property, the Home Office is ensuring that people held at Manston have access to mobile phones held by the contractors operating the facility.