Immigration: Detention Centres

Question

Asked by

Baroness Warsi
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many foreign ex-prisoners there are in immigration detention centres. [HL1459]

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord West of Spithead)
The number of time-served foreign national prisoners held in the UK Border Agency's detention estate will vary on a daily basis as detainees are removed and new ones are transferred into establishments from prisons. On 24 January 2010 there were 1,250 in the estate, 1,168 men and 82 women.

Asked by

Baroness Warsi
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many children there are in immigration detention centres. [HL1460]

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many people are held in detention centres. [HL1461]

Lord West of Spithead
Published national statistics on the number of adults and children held in detention solely under Immigration Act powers on a snapshot basis are published quarterly. Information on persons detained as at 30 September 2009 has been published in Tables 10-13 of Control of Immigration: Quarterly Statistical Summary, United Kingdom—Third Quarter 2009, which is available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office's Research, Development and Statistics website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration-asylum-stats.html.

Asked by

Baroness Warsi
To ask Her Majesty's Government how much on average it costs per day to hold an individual in an immigration detention centre. [HL1462]

Lord West of Spithead
The current average cost per bed at night in the UK Border Agency's detention estate is £120. This includes the operating contract costs, but also the budget for detention services, the part of the agency responsible for overseeing the estate, to provide direct services to detainees.

Asked by

Baroness Warsi
To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the average length of detention of failed asylum seekers in each of the last three years. [HL1463]

Lord West of Spithead
We do not publish statistics on the average length of detention. However, we do publish statistics on the length of detention for the snapshot statistics—that is, persons in detention in the United Kingdom solely under Immigration Act powers by length of detention as at 30 September 2009. This information is available from Table 12 of Control of Immigration: Quarterly Statistical Summary, United Kingdom—Third Quarter 2009, which is available from the Library of the House and from the Home Office's research, development and statistics website at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration-asylum-stats.html.