Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Bill

My Lords, I rise to support the amendment and to highlight the particular concerns for mothers with young children. Most children of mothers in Yarl’s Wood centre are under three years of age. When mothers are anxious, it impinges very significantly on the child’s life. If they do not have access to legal support and if—this point was made by a governor of such an institution—the Immigration Service does not have people going in to keep those people who are detained for removal informed of how their case progresses, that is very disquieting for those people. They have no knowledge of what is going on. They do not know how their case is proceeding. Anne Owers gave evidence to Sub-Committee F of the European Union Committee in its inquiry and report into returns. Her first concern was about the lack of legal representation. Joined with that was the complete lack of information about progress with detainees’ cases. This causes disquiet to all these people but for mothers with young children we must be very concerned. I support the amendment