Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Secretary of State for Justice, how many Albanian nationals are in the prison population in England and Wales; and what proportion of the total prison population that number represents.

As at 31 December 2017, the latest published figures, there were 84,373 persons detained in prisons and the HM Prison and Probation Service run Immigration Removal Centre. Of these, 716 were recorded as Albanian nationals. Albanian nationals represent 0.85% of the total prison population.

Any foreign national who comes to our country and abuses our hospitality by breaking the law should be in no doubt of our determination to deport them. More than 40,000 foreign national offenders have been removed from the UK since 2010, with a record number of over 6,300 removed in 2016/17.

A Prisoner Transfer Agreement is in place between the UK and the Republic of Albania, and we are working closely with Albanian authorities to speed up and significantly increase transfer rates.