Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Avebury (Liberal Democrat). It was answered on Thursday, 1 December 2011.

UK Border Agency: Prisoners

Question: My Lords, I thank my noble friend for that response, but does he not agree that the UKBA’s lukewarm response to the Chief Inspector’s recommendation that it should reduce the number of decisions that are overturned on appeal was disappointing? As the UKBA must have a good idea of the likely adverse decisions of the court in most of the one-third of appeals that it loses, is it not both perverse and costly to the public purse to continue acting on the presumption that, where the deportation threshold is met, only in exceptional cases will deportation breach Article 8? Secondly, what is the Government’s strategy for reducing the number of foreign nationals who remain in prison after their sentences have expired, mainly because of non-co-operation by the prisoner or his embassy with the process of obtaining an emergency travel document?

Answer: My Lords, I do not accept that our response to that particular recommendation was lukewarm. We accepted it in part and we accept that there is a need to improve the quality of our decision-making. We also accept that it is necessary to increase the number of those whom we manage to deport, as and when their sentences end. The number of those who have not been deported has come down steadily over the past few years.

Secondary information

Type: Oral question
Reference: 733 c386
Session: 2010-12
Oral question type: 1st Supplementary
Chamber / Committee: House of Lords chamber
Subjects: Appeals Deportation Foreign nationals Prisoners UK Border Agency Independent Chief Inspector of the UK Border Agency
Link: View this Oral question on www.publications.parliament.uk