Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether there are circumstances where a victim cannot call for a foreign national offender to be deported in a victim impact statement.

Whether a deportation order for a foreign national offender is made is ultimately a decision for the Home Secretary. Any foreign national offender convicted of a crime who receives a custodial sentence in the UK is referred to the Home Office at the earliest opportunity for deportation consideration following sentencing. There is no formal mechanism to seek Victim Personal Statements to support deportation decisions. However, decision makers may take account of evidence such as the judge’s sentencing remarks, to consider the impact on the victim.

Judges may recommend deportation when passing a sentence, and will take into account, so far as they consider appropriate, a Victim Personal Statement when determining a sentence.

Victim Personal Statements allow victims to explain in their own words how a crime has affected them. However, they should not include opinions on how offenders should be sentenced, including calling for a foreign national offender to be deported, as the appropriate sentence is rightly a matter for the court to determine.