Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many prisoners there are; and what is the breakdown by nationality of those who are not UK citizens.

As of 30 June 2017, there were 85,863 prisoners in Ministry of Justice run prisons and Immigration Removal Centres (IRCs) in England and Wales. 9,756 were foreign national prisoners, with 6,792 of these serving a custodial sentence. A breakdown of nationalities and sentenced foreign prisoners held as of 30 June, for the last five years can be found in the government published statistics which have been given in the attached annexes.

All Foreign National Offenders (FNOs) sentenced to custody are referred to the Home Office at the earliest opportunity to be considered for deportation. This Government is absolutely committed to removing FNOs, and during the financial year 2016 / 2017, a record number of 6,343 FNOs were removed from prisons, IRCS and the community.