Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department issues to Short Term Holding Facilities on time limits on the immigration detention of pregnant women under Section 60 (4) of the Immigration Act 201.
The Immigration Act 2016 makes it clear that pregnant women will be detained for the purposes of removal only if they are to be shortly removed from the UK or if there are exceptional circumstances which justify the detention.
Through section 60 of the Immigration Act 2016, which came into force on 12 July 2016, we have restricted the circumstances in which pregnant women may be detained; and placed a time limit on their detention of 72 hours. This is extendable up to a week in total, in exceptional circumstances, and only with Ministerial authority.
The section 60 limitations, along with our policy on adults at risk in detention, represent a comprehensive package of safeguards for pregnant women in the immigration system.
Under the AAR policy, vulnerable individuals can only be detained where their vulnerability is outweighed by immigration factors. Pregnancy is afforded significant weight when assessing the risk of harm in detention, and the fact of a person being pregnant will automatically amount to evidence of the highest level of vulnerability (level 3).
A Detention Services Order (DSO) on the care and management of pregnant women in detention was published on 1 November 2016. This DSO provides guidance for all Home Office, centre supplier and healthcare staff working in immigration removal centres (IRCs), pre-departure accommodation (PDA) and short-term holding facilities (STHF) where women are or may be detained, as well as escorting staff. This guidance can be found on gov.uk at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pregnant-women-in-detention