The limited conclusions that can be drawn from this data are, first, that stateless persons are detained under Immigration Act powers in the UK. This is supported by the participants’ testimony.98 Secondly, the majority of “stateless” persons detained appear to have claimed asylum. Thirdly, although the data indicating that stateless children appear to have been detained is particularly concerning, this issue may be addressed by changes in government policy in respect of the detention of children.99 Removals and voluntary departures The researchers examined published data on removals and departures from the UK of those categorized as either “stateless” or of “other or unknown” nationality dating back to 2004. This data included: persons subject to enforced removals (including removals of asylumseekers to third countries under the provisions of the Dublin Regulation),100 persons departing voluntarily after notifying the UK Border Agency of their intention to leave prior to their departure, persons leaving under an Assisted Voluntary Return Programme101 and persons who it has been established left the UK without informing the immigration authorities. On an initial overview of the data, higher numbers of removals exist of persons categorized as either “stateless” or of “other or unknown nationality” than might be expected with a total of 3,577 removals and departures over a seven year period. One would expect the numbers of removals of stateless persons to be small because stateless persons are often unable to depart from the UK because no other state will admit them to their territory. However, there is a significant risk that the numbers in the published data may be inflated because again, the categories that comprise the “stateless” nationality category in this dataset include refugees with the categories.102 The figures also include dependants. Upon request and for the purposes of this research, however, the Home Office’s Migration Statistics Team has provided disaggregated data so as to exclude the refugee categories and in doing so better identify just those individuals categorised as “Stateless - Defined Article 1 1954 Convention”, “Nationality Unknown Officially Designated as Stateless”, “Kuwaiti Bidoun” and “Officially stateless”, referred to below as a collective “Stateless Persons” grouping. The data shows that only 17% of cases in the original “stateless” category within UK Border Agency published statistics relate to the non-refugee stateless population (i.e. 602 cases of 3,577). The vast majority of removals have involved those categorised as refugees, presumably individuals travelling on Refugee Convention Travel Documents. 98 See Chapter 5. 99 For details of the Government’s current policy position on the detention of children and families see UK Border Agency, “Enforcement Instructions and Guidance”, Chapters 45 and 55, available at: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/documents/policyandlaw/enforcement/ oemsectione/chapter45?view=Binary and http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecontent/ documents/policyandlaw/enforcement/detentionandremovals/chapter55.pdf?view=Binary. 100 Council Regulation (EC) No 343/2003, of 18 February 2003 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national. 101 See UKBA: Voluntary Returns, available at: http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/asylum/outcomes/ unsuccessfulapplications/voluntaryreturn/. 102 The CID “nationality categories” included are “Nationality Unknown Officially Designated as Stateless”, “Stateless – Defined 1954 Convention”, “Refugee – Defined 1951 Convention”, “Stateless Refugee – Other”, “Officially stateless” and “Kuwaiti Bidoun”. in the United Kingdom 53