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19 June 2002

Yarl's Wood Inquiry

Following the publication of Bedfordshire County Council's Report into the Yarl's Wood riot (www.bedfordshire.gov.uk), I would like to make a number of further observations in relation to the proposed asylum accommodation centre near Bicester.

I have two central concerns.

The first relates to Bedfordshire County Council's regret that the relevant authorities were "unable to give even the most basic factual report of their response and actions". Notwithstanding the current police enquiry, I think it is a matter of considerable concern that the smokescreen of "commercial confidentiality" (as was used by Group 4 in this instance) is being dragged out at every juncture whenever anyone attempts to get to the bottom of any incident or anything which relates to the "everyday" operation of asylum detention centres. I note also that in your letter to me of 17th June on the estimated costs of proposed asylum accommodation centres outlines Government policy to be that the "budget remains commercially confidential". I would hope that the Government reconsiders this position particularly in the light of the first two recommendations of the Yarl's Wood Inquiry for any costs which are likely to be imposed on local community to be transparent and not raised through local Council Tax.

Furthermore, I would call on the Government to seriously consider the Report's twelfth recommendation for "the Home Office to give rights to an independent inspectorate to overseas detention centres" based on the system used to inspect prisons. It strikes me that despite the Home Office's claims (not least in the White Paper) that it would fully evaluate the asylum accommodation centre "experiment", the Home Office has at no point explained how this assessment will be undertaken. Notably the Government did not take up the opportunity of open assessment by way of amendments during the recent Report stage of the Immigration, Nationality and Asylum Bill. I think the Home Office should accept that if it continues to conduct this "experiment" behind closed doors the shroud of secrecy will necessarily lead to suspicion.

This leads me to my second concern. It is not only local residents who are concerned with the secrecy of this "experiment" but as the Immigration Law Practitioners' Association recently pointed out "we are concerned about the effectiveness of private contractors running accommodation centres and that �commercial confidentiality' will obscure how centres are run and that conditions of the contracts between providers and the IND are not known". I think this last point is important. You will be aware that the Yarl's Wood Report believed within the detention centre there was a "volatile mix" where asylum seekers were not made fully aware of the progress of their case during what was often a lengthy stay in the detention centre which led to the fire in February. It is far from clear how asylum accommodation centres will improve on this situation. So far the Home Office has proposed that asylum seekers could be detained in accommodation centres for nearly six months, which is far longer than the average stay in Yarl's Wood, and moreover that the accommodation centres should house 750 asylum seekers when Yarl's Wood only had 385 detainees. Surely this reinforces the case that the proposed asylum accommodation centres are too large and too remote with, as Oxfam have stated, likely "knock-on rises in boredom, stress and even violence among what is likely to be predominately a young male population". It is foolish to stir into the melting pot the ingredients which produced the Yarl's Wood riot and certainly it is not in the interests of local residents or asylum seekers themselves.

Finally I would underline the Report's third recommendation for "community consultation" and "proper planning consultation processes" in relation to the reconstruction of Yarl's Wood centre should surely apply in principle to the proposed asylum accommodation centre near Bicester too.

I would be grateful for your comments.

Tony Baldry