Justice Committee

Meeting date: Tuesday, December 18, 2018

Official Report 793KB pdf

Justice Sub-Committee on Policing (Report Back)

Agenda item 6 is feedback from the 6 December 2018 meeting of the Justice Sub-Committee on Policing. There will be an opportunity for comments and questions following the verbal report, and I refer members to paper 7, which is a note from the clerk.

I invite John Finnie to provide the feedback.

As you have said, convener, the sub-committee met on 6 December, when we heard from Police Scotland and the Scottish Refugee Council in an evidence session on Police Scotland’s role in the immigration process. Part of that evidence concerned Police Scotland’s role in assisting the Home Office compliance and enforcement teams with the enforced removal of people from residential properties in Scotland, and we considered the wider implications of that and its impact on relationships with communities. We heard that there is much that Police Scotland can do to improve its role with regard to assisting the Home Office compliance and enforcement teams, but I point out that people were not being critical of Police Scotland.

One area that was raised concerned the risk assessments that are carried out by the Home Office prior to a request for officers from Police Scotland to be present when people are arrested and detained. The Scottish Refugee Council told the sub-committee that the Home Office is not good at assessing vulnerability and gave specific examples of individuals targeted for arrest who had low mental capacity and who were, in fact, blissfully unaware of what was going on. It suggested that Police Scotland’s involvement in the process was an opportunity to ensure that such vulnerable people in Scotland were not detained.

It is important to say that Police Scotland was clear that it applied the same strict criteria for detaining someone in custody, regardless of the circumstances in which someone was arrested. Police Scotland was not able to confirm what the Home Office risk assessment entailed or say whether it included an assessment of vulnerability or the impact on children if their parents were to be detained, and the sub-committee has written to the Home Office to ask for details of its risk and vulnerability assessments. It is fair to point out that we sought evidence from the Home Office in advance of the meeting, and we were disappointed that that evidence was not forthcoming.

The sub-committee heard that Police Scotland has no statutory duty to work with or inform—even in a confidential way—third sector organisations or other relevant stakeholders that it is to detain an individual. The sub-committee is checking whether the Home Office provides information to relevant agencies prior to a removal request. Involving third sector agencies would give health, social work and third sector organisations the opportunity to provide vital support services to those who are to be detained.

Finally, there is a lack of statistical data in the public domain on immigration detentions in Scotland. The sub-committee has requested statistical data from Police Scotland.

Given the overlap of issues, the sub-committee has informed the Equalities and Human Rights Committee of our work. It also agreed its forward work programme, as part of which it will schedule an evidence session with the chief constable in January 2019.

The next meeting of the sub-committee will be on 17 January 2019.

Thank you for that comprehensive report. As members have no questions, we will now move into private session. Our next meeting will be on 8 January 2019, and I wish you all a merry Christmas.