Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing legislation to lower the threshold at which the Department has a legal duty to deport foreign national offenders.

Under the UK Borders Act 2007, the Home Secretary has a duty to deport a foreign criminal convicted in the UK and sentenced to a period of imprisonment of 12 months or more unless an exception applies. Where the automatic deportation threshold is not met, a foreign national can already be considered for deportation where it is considered conducive to the public good under the Immigration Act 1971.