Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the treatment of detainees in Yarl's Wood revealed by Channel Four and by Women for Refugee Women, what is their response to the recommendation of the All-Party Inquiry into the Use of Immigration Detention that "women who are victims of rape and sexual violence should not be detained" and that such women should be added to the Home Office list of "groups of people who should not be detained as it is unsuitable".

Published Home Office detention policy as set out in chapter 55.10 of the Enforcement Instructions and Guidance specifies several categories of detainee who are normally considered suitable for detention only in very exceptional circumstances.

This list includes individuals for whom there is independent evidence of torture, which would encompass women who had suffered rape or other forms of sexual violence as an instrument of torture, as well as individuals who have been identified by the competent authorities as victims of trafficking.