Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an estimate of the time that the Army will be in control of the Manston immigration short-term holding facility.

The Home Office assumed occupation of the former Defence Fire Training and Development Centre in Manston via a Memorandum of Transfer of Occupation in December 2021. The Manston facility is therefore under the control of the Home Office and not the Ministry of Defence. Defence has, however, agreed to loan Lieutenant General Stuart Skeates to the Home Office to provide advice and coordination on their cross-Channel migration programme and this may include support on the challenges at Manston

Under Defence primacy for small boats crossings of the English Channel, military personnel provide limited support to the Border Force whilst they conduct initial assessment and screening of new arrivals at Manston. Decisions on detention timings are the responsibility of the Home Office.

Military primacy for managing small boat crossings of the Channel will operate until 31 January 2023, at which point responsibility will revert to the Home Office and Border Force.