Asylum: Detainees
(asked on 28th January 2020) - View Source
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) victims of trafficking, (b) victims of torture and (c) people with other special reception needs were detained in the UK, by need, in 2019.
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.
If at any time it is concluded that a particular detainee’s ongoing detention would not be appropriate, the individual must be released, with bail conditions appropriate to their particular circumstances.
Most people detained under immigration powers spend only short periods in detention. At any one time, 95% of those liable to be detained, are instead managed in the community.
We do not currently hold the data in the format you have requested, however published data on the number individuals held in immigration detention can be found at:
The Home Office records the number of all individuals referred to the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) and this information is published quarterly and can be found at:
This information does not distinguish between those detained under immigration powers and those living in the community nor does it make the distinction between those accepted/not accepted as being victims of torture within the Rule 35 process under the Detention Centre Rules 2001.
The use of immigration detention in all cases is subject to regular reviews and consequently, a change in circumstance may result in a different consideration. It is quite possible that an immigration detainee is referred to the National Referral Mechanism during a detention period and is released into the community at any point during that process.
The Home Office do however, centrally record the number of Rule 35 reports raised by Doctors under the Detention Centre Rules 2001 and the number of those who were released as a result. This information is published quarterly in Immigration Enforcement Transparency data found at
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/immigration-enforcement-data-november-2018
The Home Office do hold records of the number of Adults at Risk identified but could not break this down further to identify persons with specific requirements.