Mentions:
1: Rachel Maclean (Con - Redditch) grounds to escape deportation. - Speech Link
2: Jim Shannon (DUP - Strangford) almost 12,000 foreign national offenders subject to deportation action living in the community. - Speech Link
3: Priti Patel (Con - Witham) Those offenders have committed serious offences, and my hon. - Speech Link
4: Simon Clarke (Con - Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland) of foreign national offenders, as we have heard. - Speech Link
5: Rachel Maclean (Con - Redditch) of foreign national offenders. - Speech Link
6: Stephen Kinnock (Lab - Aberavon) of foreign national offenders. - Speech Link
Found: Deportation of foreign national offenders
Mentions:
1: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Con - Life peer) How can this outdated policy, the 12 months’ cut-off for deportation, be allowed to continue without - Speech Link
2: Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab - Life peer) Prisons refer all cases involving foreign national offenders to the Home Office’s Foreign National Offenders - Speech Link
3: Lord Bellamy (Con - Life peer) One of the various points raised by the noble Lord, Lord McNally, was about the deportation of people - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Alex Chalk (Con - Cheltenham) We are locking up more criminals for longer: over the past decade, the average time offenders spend behind - Speech Link
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make it his policy to publish statistics on the (a) nationality and (b) visa status of offenders convicted in England and Wales every 12 months.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice currently publishes the self-declared nationality of those entering custody as well as those in the prison population as part of their quarterly Offender Management Statistics: Offender management statistics quarterly: July to September 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
We refer all recorded foreign national offenders awarded a custodial sentence to the Home Office who can carry out immigration checks alongside consideration of each case for deportation. An offender’s nationality and immigration status is not routinely collected by the courts. We are working with the Home Office to explore the potential for the publication of further statistical data related to the nationality and immigration status of offenders.
The removal of foreign national offenders is a Government priority and my department continues to work closely with the Home Office to maximise the number of deportations.
On 11 March, the Government set out a plan to increase the number of foreign national offenders removed through:
the recruitment of 400 additional caseworkers and streamlining the end-to-end removal process;
extending foreign national conditional cautions to foreign national offenders with limited leave to remain; and
amending deportation policy to enable foreign national offenders given suspended sentences of 6 months or more to be considered for deportation.
These actions build on our expansion of the Early Removal Scheme to allow for removal of foreign national offenders 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.
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.
Asked by: Siobhain McDonagh (Labour - Mitcham and Morden)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many foreign national offenders were (a) subject to deportation action and (b) living in the community by the length of time since the end of their custodial sentence as of 1 March 2024.
Answered by Michael Tomlinson - Minister of State (Minister for Illegal Migration)
The Home Office does publish statistics on foreign national offenders (FNOs) subject to deportation action and living in the community by the length of time since the end of their custodial sentence. This is available from Table FNO_08 in: Immigration Enforcement data: Q4 2023 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). The latest data is published to September 2022.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of inmates serving life sentences in prisons are not British nationals.
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 is a Government priority. We removed 16,676 foreign national offenders between January 2019 and September 2023. Published figures show that 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).
The Tariff Expired Removal Scheme (TERS) applies to foreign national offenders serving an indeterminate sentence. Section 32A of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997 provides the Secretary of State the power to approve the removal of a prisoner for the purposes of deportation once the minimum tariff date has expired and without the Parole Board directing release. TERS does not affect the normal consideration or processes for deportation or removal. A prisoner is not released from their sentence and are liable to continue to serve the sentence if they return to the UK.
We have recently announced measures to further increase removals including the extension of the Early Removal Scheme window to 18 months; working closely with Home Office to facilitate timely removals and working with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office to conclude bilateral Prison Transfer Agreements with specific countries.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of foreign national prisoners at HMP Wandsworth are (a) post-sentence awaiting deportation and (b) serving current sentences.
Answered by Edward Argar - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The removal of Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) is a Government priority: the Ministry of Justice continues to work closely with the Home Office to maximise the number of deportations.
As of 31 March, 13 FNOs were held under immigration powers after their conditional release date at HMP Wandsworth, while deportation arrangements were being made by the Home Office. This represents 1.8 per cent of the prison’s population. On the same date, 90 FNOs were serving sentences in HMP Wandsworth. This represents 12.8 per cent of the population.
Mentions:
1: None I want to focus in particular on foreign national offenders, whom I will call FNOs. - Speech Link
2: None with limited leave to remain under conditional caution, and amending our deportation policy so that - Speech Link
3: None That will be only for certain low-level offenders. - Speech Link
4: Lord Ponsonby of Shulbrede (Lab - Life peer) Which types of offenders are being released early under the scheme? - Speech Link
5: Lord Stewart of Dirleton (Con - Life peer) with limited leave to remain; amending deportation policy so that foreign national offenders given suspended - Speech Link
Mentions:
1: Alex Chalk (Con - Cheltenham) with limited leave to remain under conditional caution, and amending our deportation policy so that - Speech Link
2: Shabana Mahmood (Lab - Birmingham, Ladywood) Which types of offenders are being released early under the scheme? - Speech Link
3: Alex Chalk (Con - Cheltenham) That is why we are taking robust action to deport foreign national offenders. - Speech Link
4: Jane Hunt (Con - Loughborough) people who had already served their sentence languishing in prison beyond their sentence while the deportation - Speech Link