To ask His Majesty's Government what role, if any, the detention gatekeeper will have in relation to decisions to detain people under Clause 12 of the Illegal Migration Bill.
Answered on
23 May 2023
The powers to detain are contained in clause 10 of the Illegal Migration Bill. The detention gatekeeper will continue to have a role in assessing an individual’s suitability for detention, in line with published policy.
The detention gatekeeper works independently of both referring operational teams (for example Border Force, Immigration Compliance and Enforcement & others) and detained casework teams (National Returns Command, Foreign National Offenders Return Command and others) to ensure individuals only enter immigration detention where detention is for a lawful purpose and is considered to be a proportionate measure on the facts of the case.