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Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill

Hear hear, my Lords, to the final remarks made by the noble Baroness on children. I knew that we will be coming on to discuss them in our final group of amendments, and rightly so. To begin with, we all share a desire to ensure that detainees can get competent legal advice and representation and that they understand their bail rights and their rights to challenge the lawfulness of their detention. I apply that to all sides of your Lordships’ House; so, the principle is, in a sense, agreed. We are merely trying to work out the best way to do it within limited resources—I make no bones about that—and within the most efficient and effective use of those resources. As the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, rightly said, the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, has moved the debate on from the previous amendments in Committee, to try to focus further on those issues. Part of that, as I sought to address in Committee, is to try to ensure that when people arrive in detention they get information about bail—that.it is readily available to them and includes copies of the bail handbook produced by Bail for Immigration Detainees, which has been referred to. They should also be given information about how to contact the Immigration Advisory Service to get free legal advice and representation. So we seek to give them information when they arrive, in writing and verbally, and to provide them with advice on bail and legal representation at the same time. That is an important part of what happens to everyone going into detention. To pick up on what was said by the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, about people often arriving in strange circumstances and, perhaps, not being able to deal with those issues as readily or as fully as they might, we seek to make that advice available throughout the process of detention and to make sure that they know about the issue of their representation throughout that process. The IND is producing another information pack for detainees, which will cover a range of different issues pertinent to their circumstances. It will include bail rights and processes and be available in a way which recognises the language differences between detainees. That is an ongoing process, which tries to give information to people throughout. I am not taken with the idea of the duty representative scheme for all detainees being used in this area. However, I want to highlight something which may give the noble Lord, Lord Hylton, some comfort. As noble Lords may recognise, we have a pilot running at present that will be evaluated by the Legal Services Commission in June. It is to have on-site advice surgeries for any detainees who do not have an adviser. As the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, knows well, that is being piloted at Campsfield, Colnbrook, Dover, Harmondsworth, Tinsley House and Yarl’s Wood removal centres. I can tell your Lordships that, if it is successful, we shall consider whether we can extend it to all centres. Perhaps the noble Lord would agree that if that works, that goes 95 per cent, if not all the way to addressing his principle. I cannot promise that it will be rolled out, because I do not know what the evaluation will say, so I should be wrong to do that; but I can say that it is a very good example. Those advice surgeries provide the right kind of support for those in detention. They address the underlying question posed by the noble Lord: making sure that people get ongoing, systematic advice that enables them to take up the opportunity of bail if that is appropriate. I hope that that will convince him that we have taken the issue seriously. I accept that serious issues need to be addressed here, but have already said that we want to do so in a sensible, targeted way. The combination of provision of support and advice that we already have, plus the opportunity that the pilot will give us, will address the noble Lord’s concern, so I hope that he will feel able to withdraw his amendment.