Prisoners: Foreigners

Mr. Grieve
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what percentage of the prison population foreign nationals comprised in each year between 1994 and 2004.

Mr. Straw
The percentage of foreign national prisoners (FNPs) in England and Wales prisons as at 30 June each year for the years 1994-2004 inclusive is in the following table. Number of FNPs and the total number of prisoners is included for completeness.

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|    |All prisoners|FNPs |FNPs of total prisoners (percentage)|
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|1994|48,879       |3,781|8                                   |
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|1995|51,084       |4,089|8                                   |
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|1996|55,256       |4,259|8                                   |
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|1997|61,467       |4,677|8                                   |
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|1998|65,727       |5,133|8                                   |
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|1999|64,529       |5.388|8                                   |
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|2000|65,194       |5,586|9                                   |
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|2001|66,403       |6,926|10                                  |
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|2002|71,218       |7,719|11                                  |
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|2003|72,286       |8,728|12                                  |
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|2004|74,488       |8,941|12                                  |
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These data were published in December 2005 in Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2004. A copy of this statistical bulletin is in the House of Commons Library and may also be found at the following website:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/hosb2005.html#hosbl705tabs

Generally, data on FNPs are published quarterly in the population in custody bulletin, on the Ministry of Justice website at:

http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/populationincustody.htm

Annual data on FNPs, and other characteristics on the prison population, have been published each year in Offender Management Caseload Statistics from 2003 and before that in Prison Statistics England and Wales. Both publications are in the House of Commons of Library and may also be accessed via the Ministry of Justice website at:

http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/prisonandprobation.htm

These figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.