Home Affairs Committee takes evidence
16 September 2009 (updated on 22 April 2010)
The Home Affairs Committee meets at 10.15am to hear evidence from the new head of the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and on the subject of dentention of children in the immigration system.
In the first session at 10.15am, the new Chairman SOCA, Sir Ian Andrews, appears before the Committee.
Chairman of the Committee, Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP, said:
"I am glad that Sir Ian Andrews, the new Chairman of SOCA will be coming before the Committee so soon after his appointment. SOCA is a crucial organisation in the fight against serious and organised crime. It is important that he shares his vision of how he sees the organisation developing at an early stage."
In the second session at approximately 10.45am, the Committee turns it's attention to the detention of children in the immigration system.
Giving evidence in this session will be
- Ali Soyei, The Children's Society
- Amanda Shah, Bail for Immigration Detainees
- Dave Wood, Strategic Director, Criminality and Detention, UK Border Agency (at 11:30am), and
- Sir Al Aynsley-Green, The Children's Commissioner for England (at 12:15pm)
Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP, said:
"It is wrong in principle that children should be kept in detention. The Committee intends to follow-up recent media reports on the length of time that children are being detained within the immigration system and the conditions in which they are held."