Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many foreign national offenders have been returned to prison in their own country under each of the voluntary prisoner transfer agreements the UK has with other countries.

We are committed to increasing the number of Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) removed from the United Kingdom. Since 2010, over 33,000 FNOs have been removed; with 5,810 removed from prisons, immigration removal centres and the community in 2015/16.

The Early Removal Scheme is the principal method for removing foreign national offenders early from prison. In 2015/16, 2071 foreign national offenders were removed under this Scheme. In addition, prisoners may be transferred to a prison in their own country under prisoner transfer arrangements. The table below gives the number of prisoners transferred under voluntary prisoner transfer arrangements and the country to which transfer took place from December 2011 to 31 December 2016. The UK has voluntary transfer arrangements with other countries to which no prisoners have been transferred during this period.

Voluntary transfers from England and Wales