Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she has sought to negotiate returns agreements with (a) Pakistan, (b) Albania, (c) Nigeria and (d) Somalia in the last five years.

The UK has returns agreements with these four countries that facilitate the return of individuals with no legal basis to remain in the UK. We continue to work with each of these countries on returns and to manage irregular migration.

This Government is committed to maintaining and improving returns cooperation with all countries to which we are seeking to remove those with no legal basis to remain in the UK. Most people return voluntarily without their return needing to be enforced but for some enforced returns, confirmation of identity and nationality, including for the provision of travel documentation, needs to be obtained before removal can be affected. There is a limited number of countries where this process can be challenging. We continue to seek opportunities to build returns co-operation with these four countries through official and ministerial engagement, operational returns arrangements and agreements.