Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government what percentage of the prison population is comprised of foreign nationals.

The number of foreign national offenders (FNOs) held in prison is regularly published as part of the Offender Management Statistics Quarterly series. The latest published data can be found within table 1.Q.10 of the prison population tables, showing a snapshot of the population as of 30 June 2026. This shows that there were 10,134 (3,283 remand, 6,431 sentenced and 420 non-criminal) foreign nationals held in custody representing around 12% of the total prison population. The number of FNOs in the prison population decreased by 6% compared with 30 June 2025.

We are focused on removing FNOs to protect the public and ease the burden on taxpayers. Early next year we will implement the Sentencing Act power to allow the removal of determinate sentence FNOs immediately after sentence.

In the two years to 30 June 2026, returns of FNOs increased by 41%, compared with the previous two years.