Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill

moved Amendment No. 70:"After Clause 56, 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   CHALLENGING DETENTION    The manager of every removal centre shall make provision for duty legal representatives on the Legal Services Commission’s rota scheme to see every detained person in his removal centre once in every month for the purposes of— (a)   establishing whether they have legal representatives able to advise them on bail and represent them at a bail hearing; (b)   where they do not— (i)   advising them as to the prospect of success of challenging whether the original decision to detain was reasonable; (ii)   advising them as to the prospect of success of challenging whether, in all the circumstances, continued detention is reasonable; (iii)   ensuring they are aware of the procedures for applying for bail; (iv)   making arrangements to represent them at bail hearings before immigration judges where such hearings take place within the detention centre; (v)   facilitating their representation or attendance or both at bail hearings where sub-paragraph (iv) does not apply.”””” The noble Lord said: My Lords, this amendment is tabled by way of a further probe to obtain firmer assurances than we were given in Grand Committee and in the Minister’s letter to me of 31 January. It adds a further section to the 1999 Act. We want to know beyond all doubt that no one is detained unnecessarily or unreasonably. Apart from issues of personal liberty and innocence, it costs more than £800 to detain a person for one week. We want to be certain that every detainee knows of the possibility of bail and gets bail if he qualifies for it. We seek assurances that there will be effective consideration initially and at monthly intervals of the need for detention and of its continuing reasonableness. I underline the seriousness of these matters by pointing out that there were seven self-inflicted deaths in detention between January 2003 and September 2005. Detainees feel powerless and desperate. A government must take account of the following important guidelines and convention points. I mention in particular Article 5(4) of the European Convention on Human Rights; the UNHCR’s guidelines on criteria for detention of asylum seekers dated 1999; Guarantee 3 of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; and, finally, the Council of Europe’s 20 guidelines on forced return of May 2005. All of these call for challenges and reviews of detention to be heard by a court. If the Government do not pay attention to these documents, they will be wide open to criticism of the kind already made by Mr Gil-Robles, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights, in June 2005. He pointed out that, in December 2004, 55 people had been detained for more than one year and that 90 were detained for between six months and one year. He recommended judicial review in all cases exceeding three months, with free legal aid. I beg to move.