Home Office ignored Brook House abuse inquiry's key fix, and a court said it was free to
The Brook House statutory inquiry, published on 19 September 2023, found 19 incidents of mistreatment of detainees at the G4S-run immigration removal centre near Gatwick, including physical assaults and threats of violence, and made 33 recommendations, chief among them a 28-day limit on immigration detention. In its March 2024 response the government said it 'does not accept' a time limit. A year after the report, Channel 4 News found only one of the 33 recommendations implemented and revealed Home Office lawyers had argued the inquiry had no legal authority. In 2025 three former detainees sought judicial review; Mrs Justice Lang ruled the Home Office has no legal obligation to implement an inquiry's recommendations, calling them 'recommendations, not directions'.
the government has only implemented one of the 33 recommendations made by its chair Kate Eves
They are recommendations, not directions
The government does not accept the recommendation that it should set a time limit on detention.
Said a time limit would significantly impair its ability to remove people who breached immigration laws.
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