Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the closure of the Cedars family immigration centre, what accommodation they now use to house families with children, when deemed necessary for immigration purposes.

On 21 July 2016 the Government announced plans to close Cedars pre-departure accommodation and replace it with new pre-departure accommodation near Gatwick airport, as a discrete unit at Tinsley House immigration removal centre.

New pre-departure accommodation opened at Tinsley House on 26 June 2017 and is used only as a last resort after all voluntary or other returns options have failed. It operates under the distinct statutory framework established by the Immigration Act 2014, including the requirement for the Independent Family Returns Panel to be consulted in advance where it is proposed that a family is to be held there.