The Home Affairs Committee of MPs has announced that it is broadening an existing enquiry into the treatment of migrants held at Brook House detention centre to look at the detention system more widely.
The influential committee, which is headed up by Labour heavyweight Yvette Cooper, said on Friday afternoon that its investigation will now go beyond the well-documented problems at Brook House “to assess the extent to which they are systemic and the steps that could be taken to address them”.
An oral evidence session is being on Tuesday 20 March at which MPs will hear evidence from both campaigners and operators:
- Kris Harris, Policy & Research Worker, Medical Justice
- Gemma Lousley, Policy and Research Coordinator, Women for Refugee Women
- Tom Nunn, Legal Manager, Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID)
- Rupert Soames, CEO, Serco Group
- Julia Rogers, MD Justice and Immigration, Serco Group
- Phil Wragg, HMPPS Prisons Group Director for Kent, Essex, IRCs and FNPs
- Karen Head, Morton Hall Centre Manager
The hearing will focus on Serco-run Yarl’s Wood and government-operated Morton Hall, but “will also provide an opportunity to discuss wider policy issues around immigration detention”. It promises to be a lively affair, if past evidence sessions on detention are anything to go by.
