(2) how many children were awaiting deportation to (a) Zimbabwe, (b) Democratic Republic of Congo, (c) Sudan, (d) Georgia and (e) Somalia on 1 December 2008.
[holding answer 15 December 2008]: The UK Border Agency seeks to deport all foreign nationals who are convicted of committing serious crimes in the United Kingdom. It only deports children who are part of family groups, or, where the child is unaccompanied, where there are adequate and safe reception arrangements in place. In order to obtain the exact information requested it would be necessary to conduct checks of individual case files; this would incur a disproportionate cost.
The Home Office publishes statistics on the number of asylum seekers who were removed, departed voluntarily or left under assisted returns from the UK by country of nationality, age and sex on an annual basis.
The latest published annual information for 2007 can be found in the House Library.