Once a family has been removed, immigration officers inform the school or the local education authority that the children will no longer be attending. The immigration service also updates internal computer systems with this information and informs housing providers by letter.
The latest published information on removal of asylum seekers covers the first quarter of 2006. The following table shows the number of principal asylum applicants removed to Iran since 2004, broken down into voluntary and enforced removals.
2004 20053 Q1 20063 Total Total principal asylum applicants4 220 350 95 665 Of whom: were enforced removals5,6 65 145 30 240 left under Assisted Voluntary Return programmes7 155 205 65 425 1 Figures rounded to the nearest five, and may not sum due to rounding. 2 Provisional figures. 3 Removals since 2005 include those who it is established have left the UK without informing the immigration authorities. 4 Persons who had sought asylum at some stage, excluding dependants. 5 Includes persons departing ‘voluntarily’ after enforcement action had been initiated against them, and voluntary departures. 6 Excludes assisted voluntary returns. 7 Persons leaving under Assisted Voluntary Return programmes run by the International Organization for Migration. May include some on-entry cases and some cases where enforcement action has been initiated.
All removal centres are subject to regular inspection, both announced and unannounced, and HMCIP publishes her reports of individual inspections.
As at 25 March 2006, and rounded to the nearest five, there were 50 persons recorded as being under 18, detained solely under Immigration Act powers, of whom five had been in detention for more than three months. Information on the number of unaccompanied minors detained is not held centrally and therefore unavailable.