By Dominic Casciani Community affairs, BBC News

Removals: Some asylum seekers have alleged abuse

Cameras will be placed in the vehicles by next April.

The announcement comes a month after a medical charity said it had evidence of abuse in removals, including kicking and punching.

The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture welcomed the move but said more should be done to prevent harm to those being deported.

A spokesman for the Home Office confirmed a new contract for security escort vans included CCTV cameras to monitor those being held inside.

The vans are used to take failed asylum applicants from removal centres to airports.

Officials had written CCTV into the new contracts when they were first advertised in April, months before the publication of the charity's abuse report, said the spokesman.

"CCTV will cover the rear of the vans not only to ensure the safety and welfare of detainees but also to protect the escorting officers from allegations of improper conduct," she said.

The Home Office has defended its removals policy, saying staff are authorised to use reasonable force in difficult circumstances.

Medical report

In its report published in October, the Medical Foundation, an internationally recognised expert body of doctors, said it had documented evidence of excessive force or other abuse against detainees by security staff managing removals.

DETENTION AND REMOVALS APRIL - JUL 2004 Failed applicants removed: 3,725 Detainees: 1,385 Children held: 60 (no more than two months) Source: Home Office

The doctors assessing the medical evidence said they had taken into account that some degree of force or restraint would almost certainly be involved in disruptive removal attempts.

But in 12 out of 14 cases examined over 15 weeks, the team found excessive or gratuitous force, supporting allegations made by some detainees.

All the detainees were either of African or Caribbean extraction, said the charity.

One woman had claimed that her head was banged against a fire extinguisher while she was handcuffed. Another man claimed security guards had kicked him in the mouth.

A third of those studied had suffered some form of nerve damage, indicating tight restraints or the misuse of handcuffs, said the doctors.

The foundation called for the installation of CCTV cameras and automatic medical examination of asylum seekers after a failed removal attempt. It also recommended a review of restraint techniques.

Dr Charlotte Granville-Chapman, co-author of the report, said: "Any recourse to force should be limited to that which is strictly necessary under the circumstances, and which is consistent with principles of proportionality, safety and dignity.

"The installation of the cameras will be an improvement, but we would like to see all our other recommendations implemented as well."