To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment she has made of the average cost of (a) assisting an individual to return voluntarily to their country of origin and (b) deporting an individual to the same country. (231408)

The information requested is as follows:

(a) Assisted voluntary returns have been identified as a cost effective method of returning people to their country of origin by the National Audit Office report on 'Returning failed asylum applicants'. (Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General HC 76, Session 2005-2006, 19 July 2005) which noted that the cost of a voluntary return was approximately 10 per cent. of the cost of an enforced removal.

The average cost of a return under the Assisted Voluntary Return for Irregular Migrants (AVRIM) programme is approximately £900.

(b) The National Audit Office report put the cost of an enforced removal at £11,000.