To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many British citizens imprisoned abroad are (a) awaiting trial and (b) serving a custodial sentence. (85953)

On 31 March 2006, British Consular officials were aware of 2,255 British Nationals detained in overseas prisons. This includes those awaiting trial as well as those serving custodial sentences. We do not maintain separate records of the numbers of British nationals awaiting trial or serving custodial sentences. As information on British nationals in prison overseas is held on case files, it would incur disproportionate cost to provide this information.