Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the annual cost of housing foreign national offenders in UK prisons.

We do not disaggregate prison running costs by nationality and the cost to hold individuals depends on the category of prison. Our unit costs for holding prisoners are published on GOV.UK alongside the Prison performance data 2023 to 2024 - GOV.UK. Data on the number of Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) in custody is published in Offender management statistics quarterly: April to June 2025 - GOV.UK (prison population table 1_Q_9).

Foreign nationals who commit crime should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced. Where appropriate, the Ministry of Justice will work with the Home Office to pursue their deportation. Between 5 July 2024 and 4 July 2025, over 5,000 were FNOs. This is an increase of 14% compared to the 4,532 FNO returns in the same period 12 months prior.