IMMIGRATION DETENTION

Early day motion 293, tabled 7 September 2017 by Stuart McDonald (Scottish National Party). Signed by 38 members.

That this House welcomes the undercover journalism that led to the harrowing and disturbing footage broadcast during the BBC Panorama programme, Undercover: Britain's Immigration Secrets, on 4 September 2017; urges G4S to fully investigate any and all incidents of abuse and mistreatment by its staff towards people detained at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre; is concerned that the UK remains the only country in Europe not to have a maximum time limit on the length of time an individual can be detained, despite the evidence that indefinite detention has a deleterious impact on the mental health of those detained; notes that in a Written Statement made in response to Stephen Shaw's report into the welfare in detention of vulnerable persons on 14 January 2016, the then Immigration Minister set out a number of reforms that would lead to a reduction in the number of those detained, and the duration of detention before removal, in turn improving the welfare of those detained; further notes that in the year to June 2017, the Government detained 27,819 solely for immigration purposes, and more than 200 were detained for longer than one year; and calls on the Government urgently to implement reform of the use of immigration detention yo introduce a 28 day time limit and greater use of community-based alternatives to detention.

Signatures by party: Scottish National Party 21, Liberal Democrat 10, Labour 4, DUP 2, Green 1.