Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many prison transfer applications from Great Britain to Northern Ireland have been (1) sent, (2) approved, and (3) rejected, in the past 12 months.
From 1 October 2013 to the 30 September 2014 the National Offender Management Service referred a total of eight applications to the Northern Ireland Prison Service from prisoners seeking to transfer from a prison in England and Wales to one in Northern Ireland to continue serving a sentence of imprisonment or to facilitate a period of temporary visits with close family.
Of the 8 applications, two were approved and the prisoners were transferred, one application was refused, one prisoner withdrew their application and four applications remain under consideration.