Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the standard of the services provided by the private outsourcing group MITIE at Harmondsworth and Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centres.

All immigration removal centres operated by the private sector, including Harmondsworth and Colnbrook, have their contracts managed by a central commercial team. The Home Office also has staff based in each centre to monitor contract delivery and compliance.

The current level of services provided, including hygiene, is consistent, compliant with relevant standards and is considered by the Home Office to be satisfactory. Meetings take place with the contractor, on a weekly, monthly and quarterly basis (at a more senior level) where any issues will be addressed.

Moreover, on 9 February the Home Secretary announced an independent review of detainee welfare in immigration detention, led by the former prisons ombudsman Stephen Shaw. The review is expected to report in September and will seek to identify whether improvements can be made to safeguard the health and wellbeing of detainees across the immigration detention estate, short term holding facilities, and those being escorted in the UK. The Government will publish the report by laying it before Parliament, alongside the Government’s response to the recommendations.