Question to the Ministry of Justice:

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

The United Kingdom and Turkey are signatories to the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons. The agreement provides for the transfer of prisoners on a voluntary basis.

In the last 5 years, 4 prisoners were transferred to Turkey from England and Wales. Two transfers took place in 2012, and a further two prisoners were transferred in 2016. Information on the prison population can be found at www.gov.uk.

In October 2016, Turkey ratified the Additional Protocol to the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons. This provides for the transfer of an individual without his/her consent where that person is subject to a deportation order. Prisoners potentially eligible for transfer are being identified and referred to the Home Office for deportation action.

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.