January 2011 – Page 2

CHILD DETENTION

13. Reporting on the detention of children in the immigration system, our predecessor committee commented that “it must be remembered that Yarl’s Wood remains essentially a prison. There is a limit to how family-friendly such a facility can be; and while we accept that conditions have improved, we still regret that such a facility is needed in the first place”.[17] We welcome the announcement by the Government that the detention of children for immigration purposes is to end as of 11 May 2011,[18] and that the Yarl’s Wood family unit has now closed. We hope not to have to return to this issue in the future.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmselect/cmhaff/587/58703.htm Continue reading “The work of the UK Border Agency – Home Affairs Committee”

When Nick Clegg announced two weeks ago, ‘Today marks a big culture shift within our immigration system,’ I was struck by a vivid image of horses struggling to push carts. A big culture shift is exactly what is needed at the Home Office, but there is no sign of its happening any time soon.

The Deputy Prime Minister was speaking to a Citizens UK rally in London on December 16th. He claimed, ‘We are setting out, for the first time, how we are ending the detention of children for immigration purposes . . . That practice, the practice we inherited, ends here.’

But it didn’t end there, as shown by the evidence gathered by the campaign End Child Detention Now and set out in this dossier, which can also be opened as a PDF. The Government’s December commitments do not end child detention; they repackage it. No longer will children be locked up at Yarl’s Wood. They’ll be locked up instead at Tinsley House, until May 2011. Thereafter they’ll be locked up in . . . wait for it: ‘family friendly secure pre-departure accommodation’. Continue reading “Mind the Gap! Coalition claims and realities for child detention in the UK”