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Offenders: Deportation

Volume 458: debated on Tuesday 13 March 2007

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign national prisoners who have (a) reached the end of their sentence and (b) not reached the end of their sentence were detained in immigration detention centres on the last date for which information is available. (123626)

The Director General of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate wrote to the Home Affairs Committee on 19 February 2007, providing a snapshot of the number of time-served foreign national prisoners who are awaiting deportation in both the IND Removals Estate and in prisons. A copy of this letter has been placed in the Library of the House.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many cases in which a foreign national was to be deported due to a conviction in the UK were delayed following completion of the prison term where the foreign national was (a) contesting and (b) not contesting the deportation in each of the last five years; (124119)

(2) what the average length of time between the completion of the prison sentence and deportation from the UK, where a foreign national was deported due to a conviction in the UK, has been in the last five years;

(3) what the (a) longest and (b) shortest period of time has been between the completion of the prison sentence and deportation from the UK where a foreign national is to be deported due to a conviction in the UK in the last five years.

The requested information is not available and could be obtained by the detailed examination of individual case records only at disproportionate cost.

On 19 February the Director General of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate wrote to the Home Affairs Committee to provide the most recent information available on the deportation of foreign national prisoners. A copy of this letter is available from the Library of the House.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) how many foreign nationals who have served a prison sentence in the UK and are awaiting deportation have made a complaint regarding the length of time between completion of the prison sentence and deportation; (124120)

(2) how many complaints his Department has received regarding the Criminal Casework Team in each of the last five years; and how many of these resulted in alterations to the Team.

This information is not collected in the format requested and could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many foreign nationals are awaiting deportation due to having committed a criminal offence in the UK and following completion of their prison term. (124218)

On 19 February the Director General of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate wrote to the Home Affairs Committee. In this letter the Director General reported that approximately 1,300 time-served foreign nationals are currently in both the IND Removals Estate and in prisons while IND pursues deportation action against them. A copy of this letter is available from the Library of the House.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what the average cost of transportation, including security and all other related costs, is for deporting a foreign national who is being deported following a conviction in the UK if the deportation is successful; (124230)

(2) what costs of transportation, including security and all other related costs, of foreign nationals who are being deported due to having committed a criminal offence are irrecoverable where the deportation is (a) rescheduled and (b) cancelled.

We do not differentiate between the cost of deporting ex-foreign national prisoners and other detainees so the information requested is not readily discernible.

The information requested could be obtained only by examination of individual records to establish whether the person had committed a criminal offence at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many attempted deportations of foreign nationals who have served prison sentences in the UK have had to be rescheduled in the last five years. (124232)

This information is not collected in the format requested and could be obtained only at a disproportionate cost through a manual search of individual case records.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which 10 causes of delay to deportation are the most frequent where a foreign national offender is to be deported following a conviction in the UK; and what steps his Department has taken to tackle them. (124319)

The Director General of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, Lin Homer, wrote to the Home Affair Committee on 19 February 2007 to provide the most recent information available on the deportation of foreign national prisoners.

In her letter, the Director General outlined the factors that have contributed to delays in deportation and new strategy which has been put in place to ensure that the deportation system is as robust and swift as possible. A copy of this letter is available from the Library of the House.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost per day is of detaining a foreign national awaiting deportation following a conviction in the UK. (124332)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total cost of detaining foreign nationals awaiting deportation following a conviction in the UK was in each of the last five years for which figures are available. (124333)

We do not differentiate between the cost of detaining foreign nationals awaiting deportation following a conviction in the UK and other detainees so the information requested is not readily discernible.

The information requested could be obtained only by examination of individual records to establish whether the person had committed a criminal offence at disproportionate cost.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what facilities are being used to house the foreign nationals convicted of a crime in the UK prior to their deportation. (124334)

The Director General of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate, Lin Homer, wrote to the Home Affairs Committee on 19 February 2007 to provide the most recent information available on the deportation of foreign national prisoners. In her letter, the Director General set out that prior to removal, foreign national prisoners are housed in both the IND Removals Estate and in prisons. A copy of this letter is available from the Library of the House.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the foreign nationals awaiting deportation have been held in prison in England and Wales for up to (a) one month, (b) six months and (c) 12 months after the end of the sentence handed down by the court to them. (125054)

[holding answer 2 March 2007]: The Director General of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate wrote to the Home Affairs Committee on 19 February 2007, providing the most accurate and robust information currently available on the detention of time-served foreign national prisoners. A copy of this letter has been placed in the Library of the House.