To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answers of 5 February 2014,
Official Report, column 293W and 28 February 2014, Official Report, column 548W, on
prisoners: foreign nationals, which three countries have the next largest number of
foreign nationals in UK prisons; and what steps he is taking to return those offenders
to secure detention in their own countries.
<p>Data on the nationality of Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) held in custody is
published in the quarterly offender management statistics. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/276084/prison-population-tables-q3-2013.xls"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/276084/prison-population-tables-q3-2013.xls</a>
(table 1.6)</p><p> </p><p>The countries with the 7<sup>th</sup>, 8<sup>th</sup> and
9<sup>th</sup> largest populations of FNOs in UK prisons on 31<sup>st</sup> December
2013 are:</p><p> </p><p>7 Nigeria (469)</p><p>8 Somalia (430)</p><p>9 India (426)</p><p>
</p><p>We signed a Prisoner Transfer Arrangement (PTA) with Nigeria in January and
we expect to see transfers before the end of the year.</p><p> </p><p>We do not have
any prisoner transfer arrangements with Somalia at present, and security concerns
and the requirement for prison reform may provide challenges in the short-term. We
have a voluntary PTA with India and are planning to work to try and make this more
effective.</p><p> </p><p>The Prisoner Transfer process is just one mechanism for removing
Foreign National Offenders (FNOs). The number of FNOs deported under the Early Removal
Scheme (ERS) has increased under this Government. In 2013, we removed nearly 2,000
FNOs under ERS and under the Tariff Expired Removal Scheme (TERS), which we introduced
in May 2012, we have removed 234 FNOs to date.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p>
</p><p> </p><p> </p>
