Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what evidence they used in the decision to open a new immigration detention centre in Country Durham.

The immigration removal estate is kept under ongoing review to ensure that the Home Office has sufficient resilience, geographical footprint and capacity for the men and women it proves necessary to detain for the purposes of removal, while providing value for money.

As part of our plans to manage the closure and return of the Morton Hall immigration removal centre (IRC) to Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, the Home Office considered a number of options to maintain necessary capacity in the estate, including the opening of a new IRC.

Given the timescales and value for money considerations, acquiring the vacant Hassockfield site to open as an IRC for women was considered the most cost-effective option for maintaining immigration detention capacity.