Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure access to legal advice and representation for the asylum seekers held in detention ahead of potential deportation flights to Rwanda.

17895:

In line with the published IRC Operating Standards, all individuals who arrive at an immigration removal centre (IRC) must be advised of their right to legal representation and of how they can obtain such representation, within 24 hours of their arrival at an IRC and again during the Home Office Detention Engagement Team induction within 48 hours of arrival.

The Legal Aid Agency (LAA) operates free legal advice surgeries in IRCs in England under the Detained Duty Advice (DDA) Scheme. Individuals who are detained are entitled to receive up to 30 minutes of advice regardless of financial eligibility or the merits of their case. There is no restriction on the number of surgeries an individual may attend. If an individual who is detained requires substantive advice on a matter which is in scope of legal aid, full legal advice can be provided if the statutory legal aid means and merits criteria are met.

Staff in immigration removal centres work closely with the LAA to manage demand for the DDA Scheme.

Detained individuals can also utilise private legal representation outside of the legal aid DDA scheme. All people detained in IRCs are provided with a mobile phone and have access to landline telephones on request, fax machines, email and video calling facilities, which can be used to contact legal representatives.

17896:

The latest published Immigration Statistics detail the number of individuals being managed under inadmissibility rules and can be found online at:

How many people do we grant asylum or protection to? - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

A breakdown of these figures specifically for those considered for relocation under the Migration and Economic Development Partnership with Rwanda is not currently available - however, we are working to bring that data in line with current reporting and hope to publish that information in the near future.