AN INDEPENDENT report into a controversial Oxfordshire detention centre has prompted calls for change.

The report published by the Independent Monitoring Board at Campsfield House Immigration Removal Centre near Kidlington is generally positive – but also highlights several areas of concern.

Oxford West and Abingdon MP Layla Moran said the report – which highlights issues with healthcare and the length of detentions – shows a need to end indefinite detention on the site.

She said: "I share local residents’ distress that the shameful practices of indefinite detention and the questionable treatment of those fleeing war, persecution and torture are continuing to take place on our doorstep.

“It is time the Government decided to treat those looking to build a better life in this country with the dignity and respect they deserve.

“They should start by ending indefinite detention by introducing a 28-day limit along with community alternatives to detention so that centres like Campsfield are no longer a stain on society.”

The report from the monitoring board, published last week, commends the ‘generally responsive and respectful approach’ of the centre and its staff.

Exploring activity at the centre throughout last year, the report also states that the board was ‘satisfied, in most respects, detainees are treated humanely at the centre’.

However, the board also raised concerns about the centre’s complaints system, its lack of integration with the NHS and its ‘relatively high proportion of detainees released from custody'.

The report also urges the Home Office to take action over detainees who arrive at the centre without their possessions.

A total of 150 detainees arrived at the centre without property in 2017 – which equates to around three people a week.

Ms Moran, whose constituency covers Kidlington, said she would be raising the report’s findings with the Home Office and in Parliament as part of her campaign to close Campsfield House and end the indefinite detention of asylum seekers.

She continued: “As we have seen in recent weeks, those caught up in the Windrush scandal have been detained and deported despite being British citizens.

“While there is no evidence of anyone affected being held at Campsfield House, it shows the problems with the current system and the need to end detention and close Campsfield for good.”

The Home Office did not respond to a request for comment from the Oxford Mail.

Campsfield House is managed by the company ‘Mitie Care + Custody’, on behalf of immigration enforcement, a department of the Home Office.