(2) how many offenders whose nationality is unknown are in UK prisons; and how many offenders whose nationality was unknown there were in (a) 2001, (b) 2002, (c) 2003, (d) 2004 and (e) 2005;
(3) how many foreign national offenders there are in UK prisons; what their country of origin is; and for what offences they are imprisoned.
Information on the population in prison establishments by nationality is published in annual and quarterly Home Office statistical publications. The figures have been drawn from the prisons administrative IT systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system.
Information on the number of foreign nationals and those with nationality not recorded, for the years 2001 to 2005, held in prison establishments in England and Wales is given in table 8.4 and 8.4a of Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2004.
Information on the nationality of foreign nationals held in prison establishments in England and Wales is given in table 2.14 of Offender Management Caseload Statistics Quarterly Brief October to December 2005.
The number of sentenced foreign nationals in prison establishments in England and Wales for each offence group is given in table 8.29 of Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2004.
Information from these tables is given as follows.
Information on Scotland and Northern Ireland is a matter for my colleagues in the Scottish Executive and Northern Ireland Office.
Number of persons 2001 2002 20032 2004 20053 20064 Males and females All nationalities 66,403 71,218 72,286 74,488 76,190 77,677 British nationals 58,732 62,553 62,417 64,379 65,670 65,907 Foreign nationals 6,926 7,719 8,728 8,941 9,651 10,834 Percentage of total population 10 11 12 12 13 14 Unrecorded nationality5 745 946 1,142 1,168 869 936 1 Excludes police cells. Includes Immigration Removal Centres at Dover, Haslar and Lindholme managed by the Prison Service on behalf of IND. Includes remand, sentenced and non criminals. 2 As at 28 February 2003. 3 Further quality assurance of the population data was undertaken in 2005 resulting in revised figures from June 2005 onwards. This has affected the statistics on nationality. The number with unrecorded nationality has decreased by 400, the number of British nationals has increased by 300 and the number of foreign nationals has increased by 100 from previously published figures. 4 As at 31 May 2006. 5 0.3 per cent. of the immediate custodial sentenced population has an unrecorded nationality. Sources: The figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the returns, the detail collected is subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system, and so is not necessarily accurate to the last whole number as shown here.
The Immigration and Nationality Directorate does not collate information in the format requested and it could only be produced in the format requested at disproportionate cost. However, I am able to advise the hon. Member that 469 former prisoners who had completed their sentence were detained in immigration detentions centres, pending deportation, on 17 June 2006. This figure rose to 497 on 24 June 2006.