Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what agreements the Government has with the Government of Vietnam relating to the transfer of prisoners; and what effect those agreements have had on the number of prisoners exchanged with that country.

The United Kingdom and Vietnam signed a prisoner transfer agreement on 11 September 2008. The agreement provides for the transfer of prisoners on a voluntary basis. Since its entry into force, 3 prisoners have been transferred to Vietnam from England and Wales. The transfers took place in 2013. In formation 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 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.