To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign nationals who are in UK prisons have previously been imprisoned in the UK; for what offences they were imprisoned; and what the dates are of their previous (a) convictions and (b) imprisonment. (68724)

The information requested is not available centrally and establishing it from case files would incur disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether a policy has been introduced that all foreign national prisoners are placed in category C prisons. (79501)

[holding answer 26 June 2006]: No. The policy on categorisation remains unchanged. The overriding purpose of categorisation remains to ensure that prisoners are retained in custody with a level of security consistent with the need to protect the public.