The Information Tribunal heard an appeal today by the Home Office against an Information Commissioner decision requiring it to release data regarding failures by commercial contractors at the Harmondsworth and Colnbrook immigration detention centres.

In a freedom of information request, Phil Miller asked the Home Office for internal audits of the two detention centres written by contractors Serco and the Geo Group and detailing the companies’ performance against their multi-million pound contracts.

Some information regarding the level of contractual penalties was released.  Amongst other details, it shows that the Home Office imposes a penalty of just £10,000 for an incident of self-harm resulting in death.

Read more in the Guardian, Corporate Watch and Deighton Pierce Glynn