Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of offenders from Nigeria have been transferred to prisons in Nigeria from the UK in each of the last five years.

This Government is absolutely committed to removing those who have no right to remain in the United Kingdom. Both the UK and Nigeria are participants in the Commonwealth Scheme for the Transfer of Convicted Offenders. In addition, the UK has a bilateral prisoner transfer agreement with Nigeria which provides for the transfer of prisoner without the consent of the individual concerned, though the consent of the Nigerian Government is required.

Two prisoners have been transferred to Nigeria under these arrangements since 2012, one in 2012, and one in 2015. A number of other transfers are currently under consideration by the Nigerian government. Information on the prison population can be found at www.gov.uk.

We are committed to increasing the number of Foreign National Offenders removed from our prisons, whether they are removed through Prisoner Transfer Agreements or the Early Removal Scheme. In 2015/16, we removed the highest number of Foreign National Offenders since records began, with a total of 5,810 offenders removed from prisons, immigration removal centres and the community.

The transfer of prisoners from Scotland and from Northern Ireland is a devolved matter and is the responsibility of the relevant devolved authority.