Asked by: Tim Loughton (Conservative - East Worthing and Shoreham)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign nationals are held in the prison estate by nationality.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
Data on how many Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) are held in custody are published in Offender Management Statistics Quarterly: Offender management statistics quarterly: July to September 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). For data on the prison population by nationality, see prison population table 1_7.
The latest published data from 31 December 2023 shows that there were 10,423 (3,333 remand, 6,697 sentenced and 393 non-criminal) FNOs held in custody; representing 12% of the total prison population. The most common nationalities after British Nationals in prisons are Albanian (13% of the FNO prison population), Polish (9%), Romanian (7%), Irish (6%) and Jamaican (4%).
The removal of FNOs is a Government priority and my department continues to work closely with the Home Office to maximise the number of deportations.
Published figures show that FNO returns have increased following the pandemic, in the latest 12-month period (ending December 2023) by 27% when compared to the previous 12-month period. Between January 2019 and December 2023 17,795 FNOs have been removed.
The proportion of FNOs held in custody is 12% of the total prison population and has remained stable in recent years while the overall prison population has grown.
On 11 March, the Government set out a plan to increase the number of FNOs removed through:
These actions build on our expansion of the Early Removal Scheme to allow for removal of FNOs up to 18 months before the end of the custodial element of their sentence, and expediting prisoner transfers with priority countries such as Albania and seeking to conclude new transfer agreements with partner countries.
Asked by: Ruth Cadbury (Labour - Brentford and Isleworth)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) people and (b) foreign nationals are in prison for each offence category.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The requested information can be found in the attached spreadsheet.
The removal of Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) is a Government priority with all FNOs sentenced to custody being referred to the Home Office for consideration of deportation. Both departments are working closely to maximise removals from prison including:
The Govt has made good progress from removing from prison and the community and published figures show that overall FNO returns have increased in the latest 12-month period (ending September 2023) by 19% when compared to previous 12-month period (3,577 compared to 3,011). We removed 16,676 foreign national offenders since January 2019 to September 2023.
Jun. 19 2008
Source Page: Enforcing the deal: our plans for enforcing the immigration laws in the UK's communities. 32 p.Found: Automatic deportation for those sentenced to 12 months or more Πand deportation for those who use
Mentions:
1: Andrea Jenkyns (Con - Morley and Outwood) At what point will we prioritise the deportation of foreign criminals who are taking up one in nine of - Speech Link
2: Edward Argar (Con - Charnwood) right to highlight that a key element of tackling the prison capacity crisis is sending back, through deportation - Speech Link
3: Alex Chalk (Con - Cheltenham) , any terrorism offenders and any serious violent offenders. - Speech Link
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national offenders were imprisoned (a) in total and (b) by offence type in each year since 2008.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The total number of foreign national offenders who are imprisoned is published in Table A1.11 here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1173712/Population_30June2023_Annual.ods.
Data for the second element can be found in the attached file.
The removal of Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) is a Government priority with all FNOs sentenced to custody being referred to the Home Office for consideration of deportation. Both departments are working closely to maximise removals from prison including:
The Govt has made good progress from removing from prison and the community and published figures show that overall FNO returns have increased in the latest 12-month period (ending September 2023) by 19% when compared to previous 12-month period (3,577 compared to 3,011). We removed 16,676 foreign national offenders since January 2019 to September 2023.
Mentions:
1: Marie Rimmer (Lab - St Helens South and Whiston) Yet children held in young offenders institutions spend most of their time locked up in their cells, - Speech Link
2: Chris Stephens (SNP - Glasgow South West) McLaughlin) and I have constituents who have been removed from Scotland to England and threatened with deportation - Speech Link
3: Gareth Bacon (Con - Orpington) For offenders punished with suspended sentences or community orders, the reoffending rate is 24%. - Speech Link
4: Alex Chalk (Con - Cheltenham) It is critical to ensure that prisoners and ex-offenders can be rehabilitated. - Speech Link
Jan. 10 2024
Source Page: Flight returns data posted on X (formerly Twitter)Found: published routinely to keep the public updated on our efforts to return dangerous foreign national offenders
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 10 July 2023 to Question 191940 on Offenders: Deportation, for what reasons her Department do not hold data on the average waiting time to return foreign offenders to their country of origin under the Facilitated Return Scheme.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The average time to return a Foreign National Offender who has been accepted for the Facilitated Return Scheme (FRS) is not available as automated data and would require a manual check of individual cases to calculate the average. The cost of collating the data would be disproportionate.
Mentions:
1: Henry Smith (Con - Crawley) Can he update the House on how his Department is prioritising the return of foreign national offenders - Speech Link
2: Michael Tomlinson (Con - Mid Dorset and North Poole) He will be pleased to know that removals of foreign national offenders were up last year by 27%. - Speech Link
3: Michael Tomlinson (Con - Mid Dorset and North Poole) Members, including the leader of the Labour party, have campaigned to ensure they are preventing the deportation - Speech Link
4: Michael Tomlinson (Con - Mid Dorset and North Poole) The fact of the matter is that nearly 18,000 foreign national offenders were returned between January - Speech Link
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 10 July 2023 to Question 191940 on Offenders: Deportation, what proportion of applications for the Facilitated Return Scheme are (a) considered and (b) decided within 20 days.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
Information on the proportion of applications for the Facilitated Return Scheme that are (a) considered and (b) decided within 20 days is not available from published statistics.