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Section 151: Intervention by Secretary of State.

Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 · 1999 c. 33View on legislation.gov.uk

Part VIII: Detention Centres and Detained Persons

The Secretary of State may exercise the powers conferred by this section if it appears to him that—

the manager of a contracted out removal centre has lost, or is likely to lose, effective control of the centre or of any part of it; or
it is necessary to do so in the interests of preserving the safety of any person, or of preventing serious damage to any property.

The Secretary of State may appoint a person (to be known as the Controller) to act as manager of the removal centre for the period—

beginning with the time specified in the appointment; and
ending with the time specified in the notice of termination under subsection (5).

During that period—

all the functions which would otherwise be exercisable by the manager or the contract monitor are to be exercisable by the Controller;
the contractor and any sub-contractor of his must do all that he reasonably can to facilitate the exercise by the Controller of his functions; and
the staff of the removal centre must comply with any directions given by the Controller in the exercise of his functions.

The Controller is to have the status of a Crown servant.

If the Secretary of State is satisfied that a Controller is no longer needed for a particular removal centre, he must (by giving notice to the Controller) terminate his appointment at a time specified in the notice.

As soon as practicable after making an appointment under this section, the Secretary of State must give notice of the appointment to those entitled to notice.

As soon as practicable after terminating an appointment under this section, the Secretary of State must give a copy of the notice of termination to those entitled to notice.

Those entitled to notice are the contractor, the manager, the contract monitor and the Controller.

About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.