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Engagements

Answer

First, let me say that I fully accept and regret that until recently the system for identifying and, where possible, deporting foreign nationals who have served sentences in United Kingdom jails has been seriously and fundamentally at fault. Let me answer the direct question that the right hon. Gentleman asked. Last July, it was proposed that there should be a substantial expansion of both the funding and the staff to look after this particular aspect of the work of the immigration and nationality directorate. That actually happened: almost £3 million extra was put into financing the system adequately, and the number of staff has been built up. As a result, although it has taken time to put the proper system in place, since 1 April all cases are now considered pre-release. There is another piece of information that I should give the House. It is, of course, a matter of deep regret, as the Home Secretary said, that since 1999—we have the figures since 1999 because that is when records were first kept; the system has been in place for many decades—there have been 1,023 cases. It is, however, important for people to understand that a third of those cases—cases in which there should have been consideration pre-release from prison—have been considered subsequently, or are under consideration, and many of those people have been deported. I agree that that still means that the system was not working adequately, which is why the changes that I have just described were implemented.

Secondary information

Type

Oral question

Reference

445 c563 

Session

2005-06

Oral question type

Supplementary

Chamber / Committee

House of Commons chamber

Subjects

Deportation Foreign nationals Home Office Maladministration Offenders Prisoners Prisoners' release Reoffenders HM Prison Service Immigration and Nationality Directorate

Link

View this Prime Minister's question on www.publications.parliament.uk