I am sure the Committee will be relieved to know that I do not intend to say a great deal but, first, I thank everybody who has contributed to this debate and for the views that have been expressed.
10.15 pm
I am naturally disappointed by the Government’s reply that things will be done through guidelines when it has been pointed out on more than one occasion during this debate that it is precisely because Home Office guidelines are not adhered to that we have ended up in this situation of concern over immigration detention. I am sure that the Minister will not mind me saying that statements that things will be in guidelines in future ring a little hollow. He said nothing whatever to give us any confidence that the situation in future with be any different from the situation that applies at the moment where it is clear that Home Office guidelines are not being properly and appropriately applied.
The Minister rejected my amendments, which basically call for a review. He did not say that there should be a time limit. He said that it should be looked at. He sought to say that that was what Stephen Shaw said. I am sorry, but he did not. He was not asked to consider a statutory maximum limit on the length of time an individual can be detained under the relevant provision, so I am not quite sure on what basis the Minister managed to make his statement that Stephen Shaw had already addressed the terms of my amendment. I suspect that I shall have to leave it in the context of registering my disagreement with the Minister’s analysis.
The Government are clearly unmoved by what the Shaw review said. They are unmoved by the all-party inquiry into immigration attention. They are unmoved by the decision in the House of Commons, and they are unmoved by the view of the Chief Inspector of Prisons. If the Minister wishes to intervene, I am very happy to give way. There has been no indication that the Government intend to move on anything. I asked which of Stephen Shaw’s recommendations were being accepted and which were being rejected. I have not been told of even one that has been accepted. I have been told that the Government continue to undertake a review of his recommendations. One of his recommendations—recommendation 62—has already been referred to.