Medomsley Detention Centre

(asked on 22nd February 2021) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to open an immigration removal centre for women on the site of the former Hassockfield Detention Centre in Medomsley; and what plans they have to expand the use of engagement-focused alternatives to detention to resolve women’s immigration centres in the community.


Answered by
Baroness Williams of Trafford Portrait
Baroness Williams of Trafford
Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (HM Household) (Chief Whip, House of Lords)
This question was answered on 8th March 2021

The immigration removal estate is kept under ongoing review to ensure that the Home Office has sufficient capacity, in the right places and that it provides value for money.

The Home Office has acquired the former Hassockfield Secure Training Centre in County Durham and will open it as an immigration removal centre for women by the autumn. Initial discussions with the planning authority have taken place and work has commenced at the site. An Equality Impact Assessment will be completed as part of this programme of work.

Now in its second year, the Action Access pilot has provided women who would otherwise be detained with a programme of support in the community, including case management support. We are working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and they have appointed the National Centre for Social Research to independently evaluate this work, once the pilot concludes in March 2021. The evaluation is scheduled for publication in June 2021. We will use the evaluation to inform our future approach to case-management focused alternatives to detention.

In order to meet operational needs and demands we will continue to operate the immigration removal estate in a flexible manner.

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