CAT/OP/GBR/CSPRO/1 notify the duty solicitor under the scheme. The duty solicitor will contact individuals who wish to access this service directly. Service providers’ welfare teams and on-site Home Office staff have a working knowledge of the LAA’s services, with welfare teams signposting the legal support available to those in detention. At all IRCs, individuals who are detained and who already have legal representation may receive visits from their advisors by appointment. These visits take place in private, in designated interview rooms within sight (but not earshot) of detainee custody officers. Individuals detained in IRCs are also able to contact their representatives by telephone, fax, personal email and through Skype video calls and additional mobile phone credit is also being provided. In exceptional circumstances, and for individuals facing imminent removal from the UK, face to face legal visits can occur where other means of contact (video calling, telephone, email) are not feasible. 204. All individuals arriving at an IRC ahead of their removal receive an induction from the IRC service provider (within 24 hours) and then with a Home Office representative (within 48 hours of arrival) in which they are signposted to means of accessing legal advice, additional support and assistance. All individuals detained in an IRC are able to engage with the on-site Home Office team for information or updates on their immigration case throughout their stay, seven days a week. 205. All detained individuals are entitled to the categories of immigration legal services specified in Schedule 1 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) and legal aid is available for detained individuals in prison on the basis of the same eligibility criteria for those detained in IRCs. 206. Individual prison establishments are required to have in place processes to ensure prisoners (including those detained under immigration powers) are provided with information and access to independent advice from their first night in custody (PSI 07/2015) and throughout their time as a prisoner (PSI 75/2011), including specific obligations on prisons to ensure that prisoners are able to access independent immigration advice when it is required (PSI 52/2011). 207. Publicly funded immigration advice and representation has been provided to prisons by 44 separate providers over the last three years. More generally, there are 186 firms (as of October 2020) certified to provide publicly funded immigration and asylum advice, spread across 278 offices in England and Wales (October 2020). All of these providers are authorised to provide immigration and asylum advice in prisons. 208. Additionally, the Courts can, and do, hold us to account on detention decisions and Judicial oversight remains an important part of the detention system, with individuals able to apply to the Tribunal for immigration bail at any time during their detention. Furthermore, there is provision for an automatic bail referral at the four-month point for those who are not foreign national offenders. “c) Ensure effective oversight, monitoring and complaints policies and procedures in the immigration detention estate to ensure that any ill-treatment is immediately identified and ensure the effectiveness of investigations into allegations of ill-treatment.” 209. The UK operates a comprehensive complaints system for detained individuals who feel that they have not been treated in accordance with our standards. We take detained individuals’ complaints very seriously and ensure that they are investigated thoroughly and in a timely manner. Complaints from detained individuals are investigated in accordance with published guidance; Detention Services Order 03/2015 Handling Complaints. Detained individuals who submit complaints are not disadvantaged in any way in relation to their treatment while in detention, or in relation to the outcome of their immigration case. 210. Complaints made under formal procedures are categorised as either; service delivery complaints, minor misconduct complaints or serious misconduct complaints. Complaints made by those in detention or under escort are handled by our contracted service providers. However, the process and handling is monitored and quality assured by a dedicated Home Office Detention and Escorting Services complaints team. Serious misconduct complaints are sent for investigation by the Home Office Professional Standards Unit. Detained persons who are not satisfied with the way in which their complaint has been handled may ask for it to be reviewed by the independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman. 31

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