All-Party Parliamentary Group on Migration

Joint briefing with the Chair of the Brook House Inquiry – Nov 2023

On Tuesday the 29th November 2023, the All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPG) for Migration and the APPG for Immigration Detention co-organised a briefing for Parliamentarians concerning the findings of the Brook House Inquiry Report. The session was led by the Inquiry’s Chair, Ms. Kate Eves.

With the final report published in September 2023, this inquiry, by investigating the state of immigration detention in the UK from 2017, was the first of its kind. The Brook House Inquiry is the first ever statutory inquiry on immigration detention in the UK. Set up to investigate abuse revealed by the BBC at Brook House Immigration Removal Centre (IRC) in 2017, the Inquiry has also gathered evidence on the systemic failings – in terms of policies, practice, and culture – which allowed that abuse to occur.

In the report, Ms Eves explained that many of the 33 recommendations were relevant still for today, and related to widespread failings across the detention estate. The vast majority of the recommendations (28) were directed to the Home Office, with the Home Office’s failure to learn lessons on detention in the past being described as a “dark thread” that ran throughout the report. Subsequently this report serves as crucial reading for anyone seeking to understand the ongoing failures in detention, their devastating effect on detained individuals, and what needs to change.

The briefing provided a platform for Parliamentarians to delve into the critical matters highlighted in the findings of the Inquiry and to evaluate its potential impact on the future management of immigration detention within the UK. Additionally, Parliamentarians explored strategies to increase the visibility of the Report within Parliament. Below are links to some of these efforts and additional links of interest.

The brief was well attended by Parliamentarians across both houses, with those in attendance motivated to follow up the important issues raised by the Inquiry in Parliament.

For a full copy of the report, please see here.

For a full copy of the briefing’s minutes, see here.

 

 

APPG Migration