UK NPM response to the CPT report and UK Government Response

The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment and Punishment (CPT) conducted a visit to the UK’s immigration estate in March and April 2023. the CPT’s report (coe.int, opens in a new tab) was published in February 2024, when the UK Government issued its response (coe.int, opens in a new tab).

The UK NPM was happy to read the CPT’s findings of good practice and that the CPT received no indications of deliberate physical ill-treatment by custodial staff in any of the sites visited. We are concerned to see in the UK Government response that they contest much of the content of the CPT’s report.  

Our own findings broadly corroborate the work of the CPT, in particular in areas of lengthy and uncertain time-periods of detention, detention of vulnerable people, and mental health transfers.