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Home Office

Answer

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) adults and (b) children under the age of 18 are held in each asylum removal centre in the UK; and how many have been held (i) for less than a month, (ii) between one and three months, (iii) between three and six months and (iv) over six months. [107302] Beverley Hughes: The latest published information on the number of people held in each Immigration Service Removal Centre (IRC) is for 28 December 2002 and is given in the table. Information on the age of individual detainees is not collated centrally therefore information on the length of time that these people have been in detention is not available. Persons recorded as being held in Immigration Service Removal Centres at 28 December 2002 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Total detainees Of whom asylum seekers1 Dover 190 155 Campsfield House 160 95 Harmondsworth 150 110 Hasl.ar 120 100 Lindholme 90 80 Tinsley House 85 45 Dungavel 80 55 Oakington 40 40 Total 920 680 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Figures are rounded to nearest five. 1 Persons detained solely under Immigration Act powers who are recorded as having sought asylum at some stage. Dungavel, Harmondsworth, Oakington and Tinsley House are the only Immigration Service Removal Centres that deal with family cases. A one-off exercise was carried out on 2 April 2003 to assess the number of children under the age of 18 detained in these IRC's, the results of which are contained in the following table. _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Immigration Service Removal Centre Children under 18 years of age in Detention at 2 April 2003 Dungavel 21 Harmondsworth 18 Oakington 14 Tinsley 3 Total 56 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Minors are detained only in two limited circumstances: first, as part of a family group whose detention is considered appropriate; second, when unaccompanied, whilst alternative care arrangements are made and normally just overnight. More detailed information on those in detention at 29 March 2003 is due to be published on 30 May on the Home Office web-site: www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/ whatsnew1.html

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

107302; 403 c380W;403 c379-80W

Session

2002-03

Subjects

Children Asylum Detainees Population Immigration removal centres

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk