To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the average period of time was between a foreign national prisoner finishing their sentence and being deported in the last 12 months; and if she will make a statement. (196771)

The Chief Executive of the UK Border Agency advised the Home Affairs Committee in her letter of 23 July that the Agency is now removing or deporting around a fifth of all individuals direct from prison an average of 180 days before their release date. For the remaining individuals it is taking the Agency around 130 days, on average, to deport or remove them from the UK.