Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to setting a limit to how long individuals can be held at immigration removal centres.

The Government does not believe that a time limit on immigration detention would be appropriate. Home Office published policy is centred on a presumption in favour of liberty. Depriving someone of their liberty is subject to careful consideration and scrutiny, with appropriate account taken of individual circumstances. The introduction of an arbitrary time limit could lead to the release of foreign criminals and illegal immigrants even when their removal is imminent. Home Office guidance is clear that detention must be used sparingly and for the shortest period reasonably necessary to achieve its purpose. Published statistics show that, in the year to December 2015, over 90 per cent of individuals leaving detention had been detained for no longer than four months.