Tom Brake MP writes: Child detention

Tom Brake MP writes: Child detention – work in progress

By Tom Brake | Tue 18th October 2011 - 12:53 pm

The Liberal Democrats played the central role in delivering the Coalition Government’s commitment to end child detention and we have delivered big time. In 2009 under Labour, more than a thousand children were held in pre-departure detention. In August 2011, there were just three children detained under immigration powers.

Indeed, the Children’s Society has acknowledged the progress the Government has made on tackling the number of children held in pre-departure detention. But, the recent figures from the Children’s Society make it crystal clear that we must now focus with the same determination on the detention of children, who have arrived at our ports or airports, either accompanied by their families or alone.
Detention in these circumstances cannot be avoided entirely. If we are to ensure our borders are secure and to reduce the risk of child trafficking, we need to be able to detain people for short periods of time. Families denied entry to the UK are usually returned within 24 hours and on average children are held for 10 hours.

For children, 10 hours detention is still too long. This must be cut further to minimise distress.

I will be writing to the Home Secretary to ask her to explain why these children are being detained, for how long and in what circumstances? I will be seeking assurances that, in this area as well, the Government intends abolishing, as far as it is humanly possible, the barbaric practice of detaining children.

5 Comments

AndrewR 18th Oct '11 - 1:39pm

Although the coalition have made some progress Tom Brake is being very selective with his statistics. According to a FOI request from the Children’s Society nearly 700 children were held in detention centres between May and August of this year. A more balanced picture is available in this Guardian report
Geoffrey Payne 18th Oct '11 - 5:23pm

It seems odd because this is in the coalition agreement and it should be implemented. There are all kinds of stories that the policy has not been implemented and if it means writing a letter to the home secretary – which it would appear needs to be done – then it seems like we are more in opposition rather than government. Do we not know what is going on? Who is responsible for this policy?
Z 18th Oct '11 - 8:37pm

So clearly children are still in detention, despite Clegg’s over-eager announcement over a year ago that child detention would end. And *yet again* we look like a shifty bunch who will promise anything and then weasel out of it… ridiculous.
jack holroyde 19th Oct '11 - 12:21am

I agree with Z, we had been given assurances that the practise had ended, why is this not the case and why were we told in definate terms that this was the case? Unacceptable in my books that the leadership should mislead conference in this way!
Suzanne 19th Oct '11 - 8:34am

As I understand it, the pledge was about children being kept in detention after their families being taken from their homes, before removal to their country or origin. That has been done with the closure of Yarlswood, and the opeing of the new centre run by Barnados where families are in family friendly conditions run by Barnados for as short a time as possible before their flight. Much better in my opinion than hanging around for ages in an airport.
The issue now uncovered is about families that arrive in this country by plane, and the conditions they are in before removal back to their country of origin. that is not what the pledge was about, and thank goodness Tom Brake is getting on with doing something about it now the problem is uncovered.
If people have any doubt as to whether the original pledge covered this new issue or not, I suggest they contact “Citizens for Sanctuary” who drew up the pledge.