Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the transparency data entitled Ministry of Justice data: ministers hospitality, gifts, travel and meetings, January 2023 to March 2023, updated on 20 July 2023, what (a) was discussed at and (b) the actions were following the meeting with the Albanian prison director on the 21 March 2023.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
A new Prisoner Transfer Agreement with Albania came into force in May 2022. A meeting between the Director General for prisons and the Minister for Prisons took place on 21 March 2023 where they discussed the Prisoner Transfer Agreement between the UK and Albania and Albania’s prison reform plans.
Asked by: Julie Elliott (Labour - Sunderland Central)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to his Department's publication entitled Ministry of Justice data: gifts, hospitality, travel and meetings January 2023 to March 2023, published July 2023, what the (a) agenda, (b) attendance and (c) outcomes were of the meeting between the Rt hon. Member for East Hampshire and the Albanian Prison Director on 21 March 2023.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
A new Prisoner Transfer Agreement with Albania came into force in May 2022. A meeting between the Director General for prisons and Minister Hinds took place on 21 March 2023 where they discussed the Prisoner Transfer Agreement between the UK and Albania and Albania’s plans to reform their prison system.
In May 2023, we announced a complementary arrangement whereby the UK Government has agreed to provide support to modernise and expand the Albanian prison system and in return Albania has agreed to accept the return of up to 200 Albanian Nationals currently serving sentences of 4 years or more in the UK. The Home Office simultaneously announced over £4m in funding for capacity building and prison reform in Albania, including investment in security equipment, vehicles, and technical assistance.
Asked by: Mark Logan (Conservative - Bolton North East)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he had with the Albanian Prime Minister on (a) Ukraine, (b) serious and organised crime and (c) illegal migration while attending the UN General Assembly.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The Foreign Secretary met Albanian Prime Minister Rama on 19 September in New York. They recognised the strength of the current UK-Albania partnership and the progress we have made on shared priorities. This includes migration, with over 3,500 immigration offenders having been returned to Albania since our Joint Communique was signed in December, and a 90 per cent reduction in the numbers of Albanians arriving illegally. The Foreign Secretary welcomed Albania's leadership on European and international security issues through NATO and the UN Security Council, including in support of Ukraine.
Asked by: Matt Vickers (Conservative - Stockton South)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that foreign nationals convicted of serious crimes are deported.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
We are absolutely committed to protecting the public by removing foreign criminals and are determined to do all we can to ensure that they cannot frustrate the removal process.
Last year, under the Nationality and Borders Act (NABA) 2022, we expanded the early removal scheme (ERS) for FNOs to allow them to be removed directly from prison from a maximum of 9 months to 12 months before the end of their custodial sentence.
Our new Prisoner Transfer Agreement with Albania came into force in May 2022, and we are working closely with other countries to speed up the removal of foreign national offenders, freeing up space in our prisons and reducing costs to the British taxpayer.
Asked by: Matt Western (Labour - Warwick and Leamington)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many Chevening scholarships have been awarded to each country for awarded for the 2023-24 academic year.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) (Minister for Development)
Chevening operates in over 160 countries and territories. For the 2023-24 academic year, our budget of £57.7 million Official Development Assistance (ODA), £1.6 million non-ODA funding, and additional income of around £13.2 million from tuition fee-waivers and external partners allowed us to offer 1440 awards of which 1383 were from ODA funding and 57 from non-ODA funding. Attached is a table indicating numbers from each eligible country. For countries where we offered fewer than five places we withhold the exact number as this would contravene one of the data protection principles. In this case, Sections 40(2) and 40 (3A)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act apply.
| ODA | Country | Awards made (incl. full/part partner funded awards) |
| ODA | AFGHANISTAN | 22 |
| ODA | ALBANIA | 11 |
| ODA | ALGERIA | 7 |
| ODA | ANGOLA / SAO TOME AND PRINCIPE | 15 |
| ODA | ARGENTINA | 15 |
| ODA | ARMENIA | 5 |
| ODA | AZERBAIJAN | 7 |
| ODA | BANGLADESH | 21 |
| ODA | BELARUS | 7 |
| ODA | BELIZE | Fewer than 5 |
| ODA | BHUTAN | 5 |
| ODA | BOLIVIA | 6 |
| ODA | BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA | 6 |
| ODA | BOTSWANA | 5 |
| ODA | BRAZIL | 46 |
| ODA | BURUNDI | Fewer than 5 |
| ODA | CAMBODIA | 14 |
| ODA | CAMEROON / CHAD / EQUATORIAL GUINEA / GABON | 8 |
| ODA | CHINA | 33 |
| ODA | COLOMBIA | 14 |
| ODA | CONGO, The Democratic Republic Of The/Central African Republic/Republic of Congo | Fewer than 5 |
| ODA | COSTA RICA / NICARAGUA | 6 |
| ODA | COTE D'IVOIRE | 7 |
| ODA | CUBA | 8 |
| ODA | DJIBOUTI | Fewer than 5 |
| ODA | DOMINICAN REPUBLIC/HAITI | 13 |
| ODA | EAST CARIBBEAN ODA (GRENADA, ST LUCIA, DOMINICA, ST VINCENT & THE GRENADINES, ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA) | 11 |
| ODA | EAST TIMOR | Fewer than 5 |
| ODA | ECUADOR | 6 |
| ODA | EGYPT | 30 |
| ODA | EL SALVADOR | Fewer than 5 |
| ODA | ERITREA | Fewer than 5 |
| ODA | Eswatini | Fewer than 5 |
| ODA | ETHIOPIA | 13 |
| ODA | GAMBIA | 5 |
| ODA | GEORGIA/South Caucasus | 14 |
| ODA | GHANA / BENIN / TOGO /BURKINA FASO | 16 |
| ODA | GUATEMALA / HONDURAS | 5 |
| ODA | GUINEA | Fewer than 5 |
| ODA | GUYANA / SURINAME | 5 |
| ODA | INDIA | 38 |
| ODA | INDONESIA | 43 |
| ODA | IRAQ | 18 |
| ODA | JAMAICA | 13 |
| ODA | JORDAN | 8 |
| ODA | KAZAKHSTAN | 9 |
| ODA | KENYA | 33 |
| ODA | KOSOVO | 8 |
| ODA | KYRGYZ REPUBLIC | Fewer than 5 |
| ODA | LAOS | 13 |
| ODA | LEBANON | 10 |
| ODA | LESOTHO | 6 |
| ODA | LIBERIA | Fewer than 5 |
| ODA | LIBYA | 10 |
| ODA | MADAGASCAR/COMOROS | 8 |
| ODA | MALAWI | 6 |
| ODA | MALAYSIA | 41 |
| ODA | MALDIVES | 7 |
| ODA | MALI | Fewer than 5 |
| ODA | MAURITANIA | 5 |
| ODA | MAURITIUS | 7 |
| ODA | MEXICO | 34 |
| ODA | MOLDOVA | 6 |
| ODA | MONGOLIA | 17 |
| ODA | MONTENEGRO | 7 |
| ODA | MOROCCO | 11 |
| ODA | MOZAMBIQUE | 15 |
| ODA | MYANMAR | 11 |
| ODA | NAMIBIA | 14 |
| ODA | NEPAL | 11 |
| ODA | NIGER | Fewer than 5 |
| ODA | NIGERIA | 39 |
| ODA | NORTH MACEDONIA | 6 |
| ODA | OVERSEAS TERRITORIES | 12 |
| ODA | PACIFIC POOL | 32 |
| ODA | PAKISTAN (DOES NOT INCLUDE FELLOWS) | 46 |
| ODA | PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES | 11 |
| ODA | PANAMA | 5 |
| ODA | PARAGUAY | 17 |
| ODA | PERU | 11 |
| ODA | PHILIPPINES | 23 |
| ODA | RWANDA | 8 |
| ODA | SAMOA + COOK ISLANDS | Fewer than 5 |
| ODA | SENEGAL / CAPE VERDE /GUINEA-BISSAU | 8 |
| ODA | SERBIA | 7 |
| ODA | SIERRA LEONE | 6 |
| ODA | SOMALIA | 17 |
| ODA | SOUTH AFRICA | 47 |
| ODA | SOUTH SUDAN | 6 |
| ODA | SRI LANKA | 10 |
| ODA | SUDAN | 14 |
| ODA | SYRIA | 15 |
| ODA | TAJIKISTAN | Fewer than 5 |
| ODA | TANZANIA | 17 |
| ODA | THAILAND | 24 |
| ODA | TUNISIA | 6 |
| ODA | TURKEY | 20 |
| ODA | TURKMENISTAN | 6 |
| ODA | UGANDA | 21 |
| ODA | UKRAINE | 37 |
| ODA | UZBEKISTAN | 7 |
| ODA | VENEZUELA | 7 |
| ODA | VIETNAM | 23 |
| ODA | YEMEN | 9 |
| ODA | ZAMBIA | 11 |
| ODA | ZIMBABWE | 7 |
| Non-ODA | AUSTRALIA | Fewer than 5 |
| Non-ODA | BAHAMAS | Fewer than 5 |
| Non-ODA | BARBADOS (+ ST KITTS AND NEVIS) | Fewer than 5 |
| Non-ODA | BRUNEI | Fewer than 5 |
| Non-ODA | CANADA | Fewer than 5 |
| Non-ODA | CHILE | Fewer than 5 |
| Non-ODA | HONG KONG | Fewer than 5 |
| Non-ODA | ICELAND | Fewer than 5 |
| Non-ODA | ISRAEL | Fewer than 5 |
| Non-ODA | JAPAN | Fewer than 5 |
| Non-ODA | NEW ZEALAND | Fewer than 5 |
| Non-ODA | SEYCHELLES | Fewer than 5 |
| Non-ODA | SINGAPORE | 5 |
| Non-ODA | SOUTH KOREA | Fewer than 5 |
| Non-ODA | TAIWAN | 5 |
| Non-ODA | TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO | Fewer than 5 |
| Non-ODA | URUGUAY | 10 |
| 1350 |
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many migrants arrived in the UK illegally from (a) Bosnia and Herzegovina, (b) Georgia, (c) Mongolia, (d) Albania, (e) Chile, (f) Kosovo, (g) North Macedonia and (h) Serbia in (i) 2022 and (ii) 2023 to date.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes data on detected irregular arrivals in the ‘Irregular Migration to the UK Quarterly Release’. Quarterly data on detected irregular arrivals broken down by method of entry and nationality are published in table Irr_D01 of the ‘Irregular Migration detailed datasets’. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to end June 2023.
Further provisional small boat arrivals data is published in the data tables accompanying the ‘Statistics relating to the Illegal Migration Act’. Numbers of arrivals by nationality are published in table IMB_01b for Q2 and July 2023.
The Home Office also publishes data on returns in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on returns by destination are published in table Ret_D02 of the ‘Returns detailed datasets’. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to the end of March 2023.
Further provisional returns data is published in the data tables accompanying the ‘Statistics relating to the Illegal Migration Act’. Quarterly numbers of returns of Albanians and all other nationalities are published in table IMB_05 up to the end of July 2023. Since the signing of the UK-Albania Joint Communique on 13 December 2022, the UK has returned 2,898 Albanian nationals to Albania and covers the period up to 31 July 2023.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of how many Albanian illegal migrants arrived in the UK since the publication of the UK-Albania Joint Communique: Enhancing bilateral Cooperation in areas of common interest on 13 December 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes data on detected irregular arrivals in the ‘Irregular Migration to the UK Quarterly Release’. Quarterly data on detected irregular arrivals broken down by method of entry and nationality are published in table Irr_D01 of the ‘Irregular Migration detailed datasets’. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to end June 2023.
Further provisional small boat arrivals data is published in the data tables accompanying the ‘Statistics relating to the Illegal Migration Act’. Numbers of arrivals by nationality are published in table IMB_01b for Q2 and July 2023.
The Home Office also publishes data on returns in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on returns by destination are published in table Ret_D02 of the ‘Returns detailed datasets’. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to the end of March 2023.
Further provisional returns data is published in the data tables accompanying the ‘Statistics relating to the Illegal Migration Act’. Quarterly numbers of returns of Albanians and all other nationalities are published in table IMB_05 up to the end of July 2023. Since the signing of the UK-Albania Joint Communique on 13 December 2022, the UK has returned 2,898 Albanian nationals to Albania and covers the period up to 31 July 2023.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many illegal migrants were returned to (a) Bosnia and Herzegovina, (b) Georgia, (c) Mongolia, (d) Albania, (e) Chile, (f) Kosovo, (g) North Macedonia and (h) Serbia in (i) 2022 and (ii) 2023 to date.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes data on detected irregular arrivals in the ‘Irregular Migration to the UK Quarterly Release’. Quarterly data on detected irregular arrivals broken down by method of entry and nationality are published in table Irr_D01 of the ‘Irregular Migration detailed datasets’. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to end June 2023.
Further provisional small boat arrivals data is published in the data tables accompanying the ‘Statistics relating to the Illegal Migration Act’. Numbers of arrivals by nationality are published in table IMB_01b for Q2 and July 2023.
The Home Office also publishes data on returns in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on returns by destination are published in table Ret_D02 of the ‘Returns detailed datasets’. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to the end of March 2023.
Further provisional returns data is published in the data tables accompanying the ‘Statistics relating to the Illegal Migration Act’. Quarterly numbers of returns of Albanians and all other nationalities are published in table IMB_05 up to the end of July 2023. Since the signing of the UK-Albania Joint Communique on 13 December 2022, the UK has returned 2,898 Albanian nationals to Albania and covers the period up to 31 July 2023.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Asked by: Mike Penning (Conservative - Hemel Hempstead)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many illegal migrants have been returned to Albania since the publication of the UK-Albania Joint Communique: Enhancing bilateral Cooperation in areas of common interest on 13 December 2022.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes data on detected irregular arrivals in the ‘Irregular Migration to the UK Quarterly Release’. Quarterly data on detected irregular arrivals broken down by method of entry and nationality are published in table Irr_D01 of the ‘Irregular Migration detailed datasets’. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to end June 2023.
Further provisional small boat arrivals data is published in the data tables accompanying the ‘Statistics relating to the Illegal Migration Act’. Numbers of arrivals by nationality are published in table IMB_01b for Q2 and July 2023.
The Home Office also publishes data on returns in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on returns by destination are published in table Ret_D02 of the ‘Returns detailed datasets’. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to the end of March 2023.
Further provisional returns data is published in the data tables accompanying the ‘Statistics relating to the Illegal Migration Act’. Quarterly numbers of returns of Albanians and all other nationalities are published in table IMB_05 up to the end of July 2023. Since the signing of the UK-Albania Joint Communique on 13 December 2022, the UK has returned 2,898 Albanian nationals to Albania and covers the period up to 31 July 2023.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Albanian nationals have been removed from the UK since 2013.
Answered by Robert Jenrick
The Home Office publishes data on returns in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on returns by nationality are published in table Ret_D01 of the ‘Returns detailed datasets’. Information on how to use the dataset can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook. The latest data relates to December 2023. Additionally, the Home Office publishes a high-level overview of the data in the ‘summary tables’. The ‘contents’ sheet contains an overview of all available data on returns by nationality.
Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.