Oral question asked in the House of Commons, by Alex Salmond (Scottish National Party). It was answered on Tuesday, 9 May 2006 on behalf of the Scotland Office.

Devolution

Question: I welcome the Secretary of State to his new post. Can the Minister say whether the Advocate-General is going to look at the flow of judicial information from the Home Office to the Scottish Executive? First, the Executive were kept in the dark about the ““most wanted”” list; then, we were told that Mr. Malkovs was one of the 79 most dangerous people in the country. Now, the sheriff at Peterhead has refused deportation on the ground that Mr. Malkovs has no serious criminal convictions. What on earth is going on, and will any Minister in the Home Office, the Scotland Office or the Scottish Executive—full-time or part-time—take charge of this shambles in order to restore public confidence?

Answer: I have said on more than one occasion that there should have been greater and better communication between the Home Office and the Scottish Executive. That was one of a number of things that went wrong in the Home Office in respect of this issue, and such communication is now taking place at official level and with the police. It should have taken place before any statement being made in this House, and I am not in any sense attempting to downplay that point. To restore confidence in the system, it is important that now and in future we ensure that foreign nationals who are convicted and sent to prison in this country expect to be deported at the end of their sentence. That does not happen at the moment, even if the system is being administered perfectly. I sincerely hope that the hon. Gentleman’s party will lend its support to any measures that have to be taken, to ensure that what the public expect to happen does happen: that foreign nationals who commit crimes and end up in prison are sent back to their home countries.

Secondary information