Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to her Department's press release entitled Foreign criminals to be deported quicker, published on 3 March 2025, if her Department will provide a breakdown of the £5 million investment, by allocation for (a) personnel, (b) training and (c) operational costs.

The period 05 July 2024 to 31 January 2025 saw the removal of 2,925 foreign national prisoners serving sentences in prison or in the community. That is 21% more than during the equivalent period 12 months previously, under the previous Government. 1,557 of these offenders were removed from prisons under the Early Removal Scheme – a 26% increase compared with the equivalent period 12 months previously.

The measures we announced on 03 March, which are part of the wider work we are undertaking to manage prison capacity pressures, will support the deportation process overseen by the Home Office. The Home Office reports to Parliament on immigration matters and regularly publishes statistics on the number of foreign national offenders who have been deported. The Ministry of Justice regularly reports on prison capacity and the decisive action we are taking to manage this.

The removal of foreign national offenders who have no right to remain in the United Kingdom reduces costs to the taxpayer and helps to protect the public. It is not possible to identify separately the saving that will be generated from this initiative, as it forms one part of the wider range of measures we are taking.

Our initial estimate is that £4.5 million will be spent on personnel and £500,000 on training and operational costs. The investment will create 82 specialist roles to oversee removals from jails. Staff will be in post and fully operational by 01 April.