Member News
The "great frustration" in the asylum process was the root cause of the recent protests at an immigration detention centre, according to Alistair Burt.
The Conservative assistant chief whip will lead an adjournment debate in the Commons on Yarl’s Wood Immigration Removal Centre this evening.
Four women were detained by police after a group of mothers at the detention centre in Bedfordshire protested at being separated from their children.
More than 80 women had been on hunger strike at the centre, in protest against their living conditions.
In a statement issued in advance of the debate, Burt said that the Ombudsman’s report on the UK Borders Agency indicated that the asylum system was failing, and spoke of the large number of backlog cases.
"Detainees in Yarl’s Wood should only be there a short time, but some are held for many months, and even, on occasions, over twelve months," he said.
"How does the government respond to the criticisms made by the Ombudsman and the repeated failings of the asylum process?"
Burt also said there was "particular concern" about the detention of children in the centre, who were taken away from a school environment in which they might have been for months or years "sometimes taken in the run up to important examinations."
And while he praises the handling of the protest by centres operator, Serco, as "perfectly proper" he raises concerns about medical provision at the centre.
He said: "The health facilities at Yarl’s Wood are contracted to and run by Serco.
Despite repeated requests from me to introduce an independent element into the medical process, I fear it is still compromised by this relationship, and an alternative should be found."
David Wood, strategic director for criminality and detention at the UKBA said the well-being of detainees was of "paramount concern".
"Healthcare staff and independent monitors from the Independent Monitoring Board were at the scene to witness the women's protest.
"The demonstration remained passive at all times and there was no use of force. The detainees were integrated back into the centre at the earliest opportunity."
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