Offenders: Foreign Nationals
(asked on 27th February 2024) - View Source
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many foreign national offenders they have removed from the United Kingdom at the conclusion of their custodial sentences in each of the past ten years.
Our priority will always be to keep the British public safe. That is why foreign nationals who abuse our hospitality by committing crimes should be in no doubt of our determination to deport them.
The table below provides information on the returns of foreign national offenders (FNOs) and those returned under Early Removal Scheme (ERS).
Date of return | Total FNO Returns | FNOs returned under ERS |
2014 | 5,395 | 1,717 |
2015 | 6,024 | 2,034 |
2016 | 6,437 | 2,161 |
2017 | 6,292 | 2,106 |
2018 | 5,518 | 2,118 |
2019 | 5,128 | 2,101 |
2020 | 2,944 | 1,364 |
2021 | 2,706 | 1,196 |
2022 | 3,097 | 601 |
Jan 2023 - Sep 2023 | 2,801 | - |
TOTAL | 46,342 | 15,398 |
Footnote | ||
1: The total returns dataset is from 01 January 2014 to 01 September 2023, in line with published data. | ||
2: Available published statistics for ERS are only available up to and including June 2022. | ||
The Nationality and Borders Act introduced in April 2022 made it easier and quicker to remove FNOs and those with no right to be in the UK. The Act extended the period an FNO can be removed from prison under the ERS from a maximum of 9 months to 12 months before their custodial sentence would otherwise have ended. New changes, which came into force in January 2024, extended the removal period even further. Removal of FNOs can now take place up to 18 months before the end of the custodial element of their sentence, providing they have served the requisite period before removal can take place.
The ERS remains the most effective mechanism for removing eligible FNOs as quickly as possible, freeing up prison beds and saving money.