Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the press release entitled UK and Albania agree groundbreaking new arrangement on prisoner transfers, published on 24 May 2023, how many prisoners have been transferred under the agreement with Albania since 31 December 2024.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
Since 31 December 2024, six Albanian national offenders have been transferred to Albania under the bi-lateral Prison Transfer Agreement. Prisoner transfer is just one scheme where foreign national offenders can be removed early from prison, and it is more suited to those serving longer sentences. The Government pursues removal through all available mechanisms. The latest Home Office data indicate that 1,625 Albanian foreign national offenders were removed from England and Wales in 2024.
Asked by: Adam Jogee (Labour - Newcastle-under-Lyme)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she has taken to help reduce the number of small boat crossings since her appointment.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Border Security Command (BSC) continues to focus on tackling the organised immigration crime gangs that are facilitating small boat crossings, working with domestic partners such as the National Crime Agency and the OIC Domestic taskforce, and overseas counterparts in a range of countries, to dismantle the gangs and disrupt their supply chains. This work has already led to a number of widely publicised raids and arrests, as well as agreements with France, Germany, Italy, Iraq and other key partners which will increase enforcement activity and cooperation further over the coming months.
The UK-France pilot has also been put into action meaning that anyone entering the UK on a small boat can be detained on arrival and returned to France. So far 42 individuals have been returned to France under this pilot and further flights to France are scheduled to take place over the coming days and weeks. Through our joint working with France, more than 19,000 crossing attempts have been prevented this year.
The BSC is working closely with delivery partners across Whitehall who tackle organised immigration crime, collecting key data across the system such as organised immigration crime disruptions, with the ambition to track long-term impact and support the delivery of operational activity. This will support the BSC’s ability to drive cohesive delivery across the system and ensure a secure and effective border. Working collaboratively in this way will allow us to increase the number of organised immigration crime groups which we break up and subsequently reduce small boat crossings. These numbers will be monitored to ensure we make changes to our approach when needed.
And as most recently as last week, the Home Secretary hosted Interior Ministers in London as part of the Western Balkans Summit. She hosted her ministerial counterparts from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia – all of which are key transit countries for people being smuggled illegally to the UK.
Ensuring we have the right legislation in place to take robust, meaningful action to address these challenges is crucial. With this in mind, the UK’s Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, currently going through Parliament, creates new powers for law enforcement through new criminal offences, expanded data-sharing capabilities and an improved intelligence picture to identify, intercept, disrupt and prevent serious and organised crime.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has sought to negotiate returns agreements with (a) Pakistan, (b) Albania, (c) Nigeria and (d) Somalia in the last five years.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
The UK has returns agreements with these four countries that facilitate the return of individuals with no legal basis to remain in the UK. We continue to work with each of these countries on returns and to manage irregular migration.
This Government is committed to maintaining and improving returns cooperation with all countries to which we are seeking to remove those with no legal basis to remain in the UK. Most people return voluntarily without their return needing to be enforced but for some enforced returns, confirmation of identity and nationality, including for the provision of travel documentation, needs to be obtained before removal can be affected. There is a limited number of countries where this process can be challenging. We continue to seek opportunities to build returns co-operation with these four countries through official and ministerial engagement, operational returns arrangements and agreements.
Asked by: Andrew Rosindell (Reform UK - Romford)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to protect freedom of religion (a) Albania, (b) Serbia, (c) Bosnia and (d) other European countries.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK is committed to championing freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) across the Western Balkans and Europe. On 8 July, the Government set out its approach to FoRB, providing a framework for engagement with other countries. Senior UK ministers and Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office officials, including the Foreign Secretary and UK Special Envoy to the Western Balkans, have engaged closely with key stakeholders across Europe to promote constructive interfaith dialogue and policies that ensure greater protections for religious beliefs. More generally, we continue to support FoRB on the international stage, through our position in the United Nations, G7 and Article 18 Alliance.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Reform UK - Newark)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what meetings ministers have had with their counterparts in (a) Albania, (b) Poland, (c) Romania, (d) Jamaica, (e) Lithuania, (f) Bulgaria and (g) Vietnam on the removal of foreign national offenders since 17 July 2024.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Removing foreign national offenders to their countries of origin is a priority for this Government. We engage frequently with our international partners on the return of those with no right to be in the UK, both at ministerial and official level. In May, the Prime Minister announced an enhanced strategic partnership with Albania including cooperation on migration and justice issues. The Foreign Secretary discussed prisoner transfer and wider criminal justice cooperation with Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski on 19 December 2024. In Romania, Bulgaria, and Lithuania we have strong cooperation across law and justice issues. For example, our Ambassador to Bulgaria discussed Foreign National Offenders with Bulgarian Interior Minister Mitov in June this year. The Foreign Secretary discussed migration cooperation with the Vietnamese Foreign Minister on 11 July 2025.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Reform UK - Newark)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what meetings ministers in her Department have had with their counterparts in (a) Albania, (b) Poland, (c) Romania, (d) Jamaica, (e) Lithuania, (f) Bulgaria and (g) Vietnam on the removal of foreign national offenders since 17 July 2024.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
Increasing the numbers of foreign national offender returns from our prisons is a priority for this Government.
We are working with international partners wherever possible to help achieve this.
Asked by: Angus MacDonald (Liberal Democrat - Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to help strengthen the UK’s relationship with Albania.
Answered by Stephen Doughty - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK has a close bilateral partnership with Albania as a likeminded North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally. The Prime Minister visited Albania on 15 May and agreed an updated strategic partnership to strengthen cooperation on defence and security, justice, culture and economic growth. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's Permanent Under-Secretary visited Albania on 16 and 17 July to further bilateral relations, advance UK growth objectives and support continuing joint operational collaboration to tackle the shared challenge of organised immigration crime. The Foreign Secretary and I have met on a number of times with Foreign Minister Hasani in the last year to discuss shared priorities. The UK looks forward to hosting Albania at the Berlin Process Summit this autumn.
Asked by: Damian Hinds (Conservative - East Hampshire)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the press release entitled UK and Albania agree groundbreaking new arrangement on prisoner transfers, published on 24 May 2023, how many prisoners have been transferred under the agreement with Albania in the last 12 months.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Vice Chamberlain (HM Household) (Whip, House of Commons)
Between 17 July and 31 December 2024 (the latest period for which validated figures are available), four Albanian national offenders were transferred to Albania under the bi-lateral Prison Transfer Agreement. Prisoner transfer is just one scheme where foreign national offenders can be removed early from prison and it is more suited to those serving longer sentences. The Government pursues removal through all available mechanisms and during 2024, 1,610 Albanian foreign national offenders were removed from England and Wales, up 7% from the previous year.
Asked by: Robert Jenrick (Reform UK - Newark)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what meetings Ministers in her Department have had with their counterparts in (a) Albania, (b) Poland, (c) Romania, (d) Jamaica, (e) Lithuania, (f) Bulgaria and (g) Vietnam on the removal of foreign national offenders since July 2024.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The Government is committed to the removal of foreign criminals and those with no right to be in the UK. We have strong returns cooperation with countries across the globe and continuing to build on this cooperation is at the heart of our diplomatic engagement.
From 5 July 2024 to 4 July 2025, the Government has ensured the removal of 5,179 foreign national offenders, 14 percent more than the same period twelve months before, and almost a third up on the total for 2023, when the Rt Hon Gentleman was the minister responsible.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much their Department has spent on translating documents into languages other than (a) English and (b) other native UK languages in each year since 2023; and what these languages were.
Answered by Sarah Sackman - Minister of State (Ministry of Justice)
The Ministry of Justice has a statutory duty to provide Language Services to enable access to justice for users for whom English is not their first language and those who require visual and tactile services, under the provision of the Equality Act.
Language Service needs and spend are assessed to ensure these services offer good value for money for taxpayers while maintaining high standards of service delivery.
In FY 23/24 the total contracted spend was £915,037.52.
In FY 24/25 the total contracted spend was £1,003,283.32.
In FY 25/26 so far, the total contracted spend is £256,707.82.
The languages in this data exclude written translations into English, Welsh and Braille.
The languages translated into from English (United Kingdom) are:
Albanian (Albania)
Amharic (Ethiopia)
Arabic (Classical)
Arabic (Egypt)
Arabic (Modern Standard) Middle Eastern
Arabic (Modern Standard) North African
Arabic (Morocco)
Armenian (Armenia)
Bangla (Bangladesh)
Bosnian (Latin, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Bulgarian (Bulgaria)
Burmese
Burmese (Myanmar)
Catalan (Catalan)
Chinese (Simplified)
Chinese (Traditional)
Croatian (Latin, Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Czech (Czech Republic)
Danish (Denmark)
Dari (Afghanistan)
Dutch (Netherlands)
Estonian (Estonia)
Filipino (Philippines)
Finnish (Finland)
French (Belgium)
French (France)
Georgian (Georgia)
German (Austria)
German (Germany)
Greek (Greece)
Gujarati (India)
Hebrew (Israel)
Hindi (India)
Hungarian (Hungary)
Icelandic (Iceland)
Indonesian (Indonesia)
Italian (Italy)
Japanese (Japan)
Kinyarwanda (Rwanda)
Kiswahili (Kenya)
Korean (Korea)
Kurdish (Bahdini)
Kurdish (Sorani)
Latvian (Latvia)
Lingala (Congo DRC)
Lithuanian (Lithuania)
Macedonian (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia)
Malay (Malaysia)
Malayalam (India)
Maltese (Malta)
Mirpuri (Central Asia)
Mongolian (Cyrillic, Mongolia)
Nepali (Nepal)
Norwegian, Bokmål (Norway)
Norwegian, Nynorsk (Norway)
Oromo (Ethiopia)
PahariPotwari (Central Asia)
Pashto (Afghanistan)
Persian (Afghanistan)
Persian (Iran)
Polish (Poland)
Portuguese (Brazil)
Portuguese (Portugal)
Punjabi (India)
Punjabi (Pakistan)
Romanian (Romania)
Romany (Europe)
Russian (Russia)
Serbian (Cyrillic, Serbia)
Serbian (Latin, Serbia)
Shona (Latin, Zimbabwe)
Sinhala (Sri Lanka)
Slovak (Slovakia)
Slovenian (Slovenia)
Somali (Somalia)
Spanish (Argentina)
Spanish (Latin America)
Spanish (Mexico)
Spanish (Spain)
Swedish (Sweden)
Tajik (Cyrillic, Tajikistan)
Tamazight (Latin, Algeria)
Tamil (India)
Tetum (Timor)
Thai (Thailand)
Tigrinya (Eritrea)
Turkish (Turkey)
Ukranian (Ukraine)
Urdu (Islamic Republic of Pakistan)
Uzbek (Latin, Uzbekistan)
Vietnamese (Vietnam)
Wolof (Senegal)
Yoruba (Nigeria)
The Languages translated into from English (United States) are:
Arabic (Egypt)
Hungarian (Hungary)
Polish (Poland)
Romanian (Romania)