Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what was the cost of providing foreign national prisoners with phone credit in the past year.

As the data collected in relation to telephone credit do not include the nationality of the prisoner, it is not possible to provide the information requested without incurring disproportionate cost.

We are focused on removing foreign national offenders (FNOs), to protect the public and ease the burden on taxpayers. We have already changed the law so that most foreign prisoners can be deported after serving 30% of their prison time, rather than 50%.

In the year to 31 March, deportations of FNOs were up 13% compared with the previous year, with more than 5,800 removed.