Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 12 March 2018 to Question 131413, whether her Department requested legal advice on the legality of threatening accelerated deportation to detainees on hunger strike in immigration detention centres.
We do not consider that the letter issued to individuals in immigration detention who have refused foods or fluids contravenes human rights obligations or immigration law. The letter in question is part of guidance which was cleared by Home Office lawyers and published in October 2017.
The approach taken in the letter accurately reflects the fact that, in the interests of health and wellbeing, the most appropriate way in which to respond to some cases of refusal to take food or fluids is to prioritise the consideration of the individual’s case including, if appropriate, their removal from detention and the UK, whilst ensuring that the case is processed fairly.