Philip Davies – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Justice

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Philip Davies on 2014-03-31.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many people in each prison establishment are not being held in relation to criminal proceedings; and what the reason is for their being so held in each case.

Jeremy Wright

As of the 31 December 2013, 1,230 people were being held in prisons in England and Wales not in relation to criminal proceedings.

Of these, 1,214 were being held as immigration detainees and 16 were being held for civil offences (for example non-payment of a debt, contempt of court, or breach of an injunction).

The agreement to hold time served foreign national offenders (Immigration Detainees) in prisons is set out in a Service Level Agreement between NOMS and the Home Office and is designed to support the Home Office in achieving its objectives for removal.

Reducing the FNO population is a top priority for this Government. We are working hard to reduce the flow of FNOs into our prison system and increase the number of FNOs removed from the UK through Prisoner Transfer Agreements (PTAs); the Early Removal Scheme (ERS) and Tariff Expired Removal Scheme (TERS).

Table 1 (attached) provides a breakdown of the population who are not held in relation to criminal proceedings by prison establishment.