To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Prime Minister’s oral statement of 14 November on national security, to which countries the 4,000 foreign prisoners referred to are to be deported. (165835)

Nationals of all countries can be considered for deportation. The Chief Executive of the Border and Immigration Agency, Lin Homer, wrote to the Home Affairs Committee on 20 November 2007 and explained that up to the first week of November, approximately 3,500 foreign national prisoners have been removed or deported in 2007. This already represents a 48 per cent. improvement on the total number of FNPs removed for the entire calendar year of 2006, and over 130 per cent. more than for the calendar years 2004 and 2005. A copy of this letter is available from the Library of the House.