Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill

moved Amendment No. 68:"After Clause 45, insert the following new clause—" ““DETENTION CENTRES: REVIEW    After section 153 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (c. 33) (detention centre rules) insert— ““153A   DETENTION CENTRES: REVIEW    The manager of every detention centre shall make provision for a magistrate to visit every detained person in his detention centre once in every week for the purposes of— (a)   determining whether the original decision to detain was reasonable; (b)   determining whether, in all the circumstances, continued detention is reasonable; and (c)   ensuring that detained persons are aware of the procedures for applying for bail.”””” The noble Lord said: I have spoken to this amendment already, but I have not moved it, so this gives me the opportunity to ask the Minister whether she can confirm or deny the rumour that I have heard that the whole detention estate will in future be used for people about to be deported or repatriated. If that happened, there would be no space for detaining new asylum applicants before their cases were determined. Therefore, our discussions about bail and about reviewing the reasonableness of detentions would become rather academic. In any case, I should like to probe further on the recommendation of the UNHCR that a doctor should certify that detention will not be harmful to the vulnerable categories that he has specified and which we have already mentioned. Are the Government sympathetic to that approach and, if so, what will they do about it? Secondly, if vulnerable people who have committed no offence are to be detained for whatever reason, will the Government ensure that there is a monthly review or, better still, a fortnightly review, by an independent quasi-judicial person? Will the Minister take that away and discuss it with her Home Office colleagues? Will she point out that we are actually talking about fewer than 2,000 people at any one time and that many of those people will be fit and single? I beg to move.