Section one Context Immigration detention Throughout the reporting year, parliamentarians and civil society organisations continued to raise concerns around the lack of a time limit in immigration detention. Other concerns raised during the year relate to ongoing issues with the safety of vulnerable detainees and the performance of privately contracted immigration services. Planned legislative changes to immigration policy by the previous government stalled in March 2019 and were discontinued when Parliament was prorogued for the General Election in September 2019. The current Immigration and Social Security Coordination (EU Withdrawal) Bill, introduced in March 2020, received mention in the Queen’s Speech of December 2019. The speech stated that ‘[A] modern, fair, points-based immigration system’ would be introduced which ‘will welcome skilled workers from across the world to contribute to the United Kingdom’s economy, communities and public services’.85 Brook House investigation In November 2019, it was announced that the PPO investigation of events in Brook House Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) would be converted to a statutory inquiry. The investigation had been delayed pending legal action.86 The original announcement followed a Panorama documentary (‘Undercover: Britain’s Immigration Secrets’) broadcast on 4 September 2017, which revealed shocking levels of abuse of detainees at Brook House IRC. 85 86 87 A National Audit Office (NAO) investigation of the Home Office’s management of its contract with private contractor G4S to run Brook House IRC, conducted for the Home Affairs Committee, was published in July 2019. NAO found that G4S made £14.3 million in profit from Brook House between 2012 and 2018. NAO also found that until 2018 the Home Office had insufficient staff in place to properly verify or validate G4S’s reported level of performance. Since the documentary was broadcast, the Home Office has increased the size and role of its contract monitoring team.87 The contract has now been awarded to Serco. Significantly, NAO found that 84 incidents of physical and verbal abuse identified from the BBC Panorama footage were not classified as a contractual breach and did not lead to any significant penalties. After the programme was broadcast, the Home Office fined G4S £2,768 for eight incidents, four of which should have been previously reported. The Home Office subsequently announced that the G4S contract, which was extended for two years in August 2018 after the programme was broadcast, was ‘not fit for purpose’. Dungavel House Immigration Removal Centre In May 2019, BBC Scotland reported concerns about the operation of the Adults at Risk policy in Dungavel House IRC, the only IRC in Scotland, and at short-term holding facilities at Glasgow and Edinburgh airports, all of which are administered by the UK Home Office. BBC Scotland highlighted figures from the Home Office from 31 December 2018 showing that UK Government, December 2019, Queen’s Speech December 2019, https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/queensspeech-december-2019, [accessed 10/11/2020] Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, November 2019, PPO’s Brook House investigation converted into statutory inquiry, https://www.ppo.gov.uk/news/ppos-brook-house-investigation-converted-into-statutory-inquiry/ [accessed 31/08/2020] Home Affairs Select Committee, July 2019, News: G4S make £14.3m profit from Brook House contract despite serious failings, https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/83/home-affairs-committee/news/100641/g4s-make-143m-profitfrom-brook-house-contract-despite-serious-failings/ [accessed 31/08/2020] 31