Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what her policy is on use of dogs to patrol (a) immigration detention centres and (b) Dungavel immigration removal centre.

The requirement to maintain the security of an immigration removal centre (IRC) is set out in the Detention Centre Rules 2001. The published Detention Services Operating Standards set out the requirement for each IRC to have a local security strategy, which includes searching procedures to detect and deter threats to the security or control of the centre.

The Operating Standards also require a full-length physical perimeter search to be conducted daily.