---

Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill [HL]

My Lords, before the noble Lord responds—although I would like to hear his response—I had better quickly deal with the concerns raised by the noble Lord, Lord Avebury, in his Amendment 9A, which would limit the length of time for which persons who fall outside the strict definition of "detained persons" may be held. By mixing up the uses to which short-term holding facilities—in other words, where different classes of person are held in the same facilities—can be put, the rules have a potential to cause confusion. However, we on these Benches see the case for flexibility in allowing holding facilities to be used to hold different types of person when the need arises. What matters in all the different cases is that staff at the holding facilities should be clear about what rules apply to which detainees. It seems now to us that the best way to do that is to set it out in rules in an easy-to-understand format, so that the rights and protections afforded by law to individuals who are being held are not breached accidentally. It is probably easier to do that through secondary legislation and codes of practice than by placing such provisions in the Bill. I assure the Minister that we will be firm in holding the Government and their agents to adhering to any codes of practice. However, for those reasons, we cannot at this stage offer support to the noble Lord, Lord Avebury.