The number of complaints from asylum seekers about detention centres has dropped from 1,200 in 2008 to 700 in 2012, junior justice minister Fred Teeven said on Friday.

He was responding to a parliamentary question from left-wing liberal party D66.

The number of complaints judged worth addressing also fell, from 86 in 2009 to 13 last year.

Asylum seekers complain about the quality of the food, cancellation of parts of their daily programme, contact with the outside world, loss of personal possessions and being put in a punishment cell.