answer text |
<p>Data on how many Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) are held in custody are published
in Offender Management Statistics Quarterly: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/offender-management-statistics-quarterly-july-to-september-2023"
target="_blank">Offender management statistics quarterly: July to September 2023 -
GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)</a>. For data on the prison population by nationality, see prison
population table 1_7.</p><p> </p><p>The latest published data from 31 December 2023
shows that there were 10,423 (3,333 remand, 6,697 sentenced and 393 non-criminal)
FNOs held in custody; representing 12% of the total prison population. The most common
nationalities after British Nationals in prisons are Albanian (13% of the FNO prison
population), Polish (9%), Romanian (7%), Irish (6%) and Jamaican (4%).</p><p> </p><p>The
removal of FNOs is a Government priority and my department continues to work closely
with the Home Office to maximise the number of deportations.</p><p> </p><p>Published
figures show that FNO returns have increased following the pandemic, in the latest
12-month period (ending December 2023) by 27% when compared to the previous 12-month
period. Between January 2019 and December 2023 17,795 FNOs have been removed.</p><p>
</p><p>The proportion of FNOs held in custody is 12% of the total prison population
and has remained stable in recent years while the overall prison population has grown.</p><p>
</p><p>On 11 March, the Government set out a plan to increase the number of FNOs removed
through:</p><ul><li>The recruitment of 400 additional caseworkers and streamlining
the end-to-end removal process;</li><li>Extending foreign national conditional cautions
to FNOs with limited leave to remain; and</li><li>Amending deportation policy to enable
FNOs given suspended sentences of 6 months or more to be considered for deportation.</li></ul><p>
</p><p> </p><p>These actions build on our expansion of the Early Removal Scheme to
allow for removal of FNOs up to 18 months before the end of the custodial element
of their sentence, and expediting prisoner transfers with priority countries such
as Albania and seeking to conclude new transfer agreements with partner countries.</p><p>
</p>
|
|