Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the hourly rate of pay for detainees in immigration removal centres; and how many hours have been worked by detainees in each year since 2015.

In accordance with the Detention Centre Rules 2001, all detained persons should be provided with an opportunity to participate in activities to meet, as far as possible, their recreational and intellectual needs. This includes the provision of voluntary paid activity opportunities. Rule 17 of the Detention Centre Rules permits those in detention to engage voluntarily in paid activities. These activities are provided to meet the recreational and intellectual needs of detained individuals. In accordance with Rule 17, pay rates are determined by the Secretary of State for the Home Department. The currently approved rates of pay are £1 per hour and, for specified projects, £1.25 per hour, as set out in the published Detention Services Order 1/2013 ‘Paid Activities’. Management information on the number of hours of paid activity undertaken by detained individuals for each year from 2015 is set out in the table below. This is provisional management information that is subject to change. It has not been assured to the standard of Official Statistics.

Total hours of paid activity undertaken

2015 - 920,597

2015 - 881,077

2017 - 669,213

2018 - 532,876

2019 - 454,000

2020 - 250,970

2021 - 126,282

2022 (January 1^st to June 30^th) - 98,351