Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to reduce the time some people are held in immigration detention.

The Home Office only detains people as a last resort and for the shortest period necessary. The Immigration Act 2014 has introduced changes to streamline the immigration system, most notably the single removal decision, which are intended to reduce the length of time individuals spend in detention. Separately, operational changes in the Home Office case working areas responsible for managing detained cases have introduced improved assurance measures and oversight of detention decisions and reviews, which will ensure that cases are progressed as speedily as possible and thus likely to lead to a reduction in length of detention periods.