On the last day of term in Parliament back at the end of July, a debate took place on the theme of Immigration Detention and specifically on the Review carried out by Stephen Shaw which was Commissioned in September 2017 and published by the Home Office on the same day of the debate, the 24th July. The debate involved the Home Secretary, Sajd Javid and a number of MPs including Caroline Lucas. Publishing reports and holding debates on the last day of a Parliament carries with it all sorts of concerns. However the positive aspect if one can live outside a detention space is that when Parliament returns, it is perfectly reasonable to ask the question, what has happened in the meantime, bearing in mind that MPs take a long break. The return of Parliament took place on 4th September and although Yarl’s Wood was mentioned in a question and answer session it was more of a side issue. However two days later David Lammy raised the matter much more head on. The period between the two debates was 44 days and each of those days is 24hrs in detention or prison for the people forced to stay at Yarl’s Wood without any explanation or indication regarding what will happen next. According to the Home Secretary 64% of the people detained will only be held for 28 days but another 27% will be detained for a further three months and that still leaves 9% whose detention exceeds the four month period. At the time of the first debate there was this statement by Sajid Javid:

“I have asked the Home Office to do more to explore alternatives to detention with faith groups, with non-governmental organisations and within communities. As a first step, I can announce today that we intend to pilot a scheme to manage vulnerable women in the community who would otherwise be detained at Yarl’s Wood. My officials have been working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to develop this pilot, which will mean that, rather than receiving support and care in an immigration removal centre, the women will get a programme of support and care in the community instead.”

After a question by Diane Abbot he stated “although we are about to start the summer recess, the work of the Home Office and all the work that I talked about in my statement continues…..On Yarl’s Wood, we will be piloting the alternative to detention. It is worth pointing out that women make up a much smaller proportion of the total number of people in detention. That proportion is currently around 9%, which is around 260 women, but I would like to see that come down much more. As I mentioned in my statement, we will focus on the vulnerable cases.”

So 44 days into the promise to carry out a pilot or 31 working days, as obviously the Home Office and its partners don’t usually work over the weekends and bank holidays, there should have been some movement. Whilst 31 working days is only a small number one assumes some changes will have taken place. After David Lammy spoke in his debate, focusing primarily on the Windrush issue, his reference to Yarl’s Wood brought this statement from Caroline Nokes, the only other person to speak in this two person debate:

“As part of our response to Shaw, the Government will explore alternatives to detention with faith groups, non-governmental organisations and communities. As a first step, we intend to pilot a scheme to manage in the community vulnerable women who would otherwise have been detained at Yarl’s Wood immigration removal centre. Home Office officials have been working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to develop that pilot, which will mean that rather than receiving support and care in an immigration removal centre, the women will get a programme of support and care in the community.”

Clearly no developments have taken place over the 31 working days between these two debates or else the words would have acknowledged that. Since the debate on 6th September Yarl’s  Wood has not been mentioned in Parliament and so bearing in mind that Parliament is not due to return till the 9th October, that will mean the period from 24th July till the next possible day for Caroline or Sajid to explain how the pilot is developing is 77 days for those in detention or 54 for those working in the Home Office as civil servants. The only possible prospect of an earlier update is that on Tuesday Morning as part of his speech in Birmingham at the Party Conference, Sajid Javid might mention Yarl’s Wood in his speech, but that is not very likely!