Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has made an assessment of the possible compensation due to asylum-seekers as a result of the conditions at Manston asylum centre.

Decisions to detain people are not taken lightly. We will robustly defend decisions subject to legal challenge, when appropriate to do so, with a decision to defend or concede based on the merits of the individual case.

The facility at Manston provides suitable welfare provisions including hot food, fresh clothing, toilet facilities, sanitary packs and medical care. It provides for all the basic needs of people who will have arrived tired, cold, in wet clothing and who may not have eaten during their journey. We will continue to innovate to provide for the basic needs of those in our care and to ensure the safety of everyone at Manston as a priority.