PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Prisoners: Albania (9 October 2024)

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Albanian nationals (a) have been sentenced to imprisonment in the last 12 months, (b) are in prison, (c) have been released in the last 12 months and (d) have been deported to Albania in the last 12 months.

Asked by:
Sir Christopher Chope (Conservative)

Nationality data held by courts is not held centrally by the Ministry of Justice. We are therefore unable to provide information on how many Albanian nationals have been sentenced to imprisonment at court in the last 12 months. We have instead provided information on sentenced prison admissions for Albanian nationals between April 2023 and March 2024 (the latest 12 months published period). This information has been provided in the data attached.

The nationality of foreign national offenders in prison is published quarterly in table 1_Q_12 of Offender Management Statistics, with the latest data (30 June 2024) available from: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66a1167cce1fd0da7b592c8d/Prison-population-30-June-2024.ods. As of 30 June 2024, there were 1,227 Albania nationals in HMPPS custody.

We have provided information on prisoner releases of Albanian nationals between April 2023 and March 2024 (the latest 12 months published period). This information has been provided in the data attached. Please note, not all these were released into the UK community: the number of prisoner releases includes those who were deported to Albania directly from prison, having completed their UK custodial sentence, and those who were transferred from prison to Albania to serve their prison sentence there.

Information on deportations is a matter for the Home Office.

Foreign nationals who commit crimes should be in no doubt that the law will be enforced, and where appropriate the Government will pursue their deportation and ensure the rules are respected and enforced. This will help to manage prison pressures, keep the public safe and reduce crime. The Government have already begun delivering a major surge in immigration enforcement and returns activity to remove people with no right to be in the UK, with 3,000 people already being returned since the new government came into power.

Answered by:
Sir Nicholas Dakin (Labour)
14 October 2024