Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Prisoner Transfers: Albania 2023-06-27 (2)

Tuesday 27 June 2023 · 2 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 1 Partly answered 1 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Philip Hollobone asked about negotiating prisoner transfer arrangements similar to those with Albania with other countries.
  • The Government announced a new arrangement with Albania in May 2023 to speed up prisoner transfers of serious offenders.
  • There are over 100 prisoner transfer agreements, but only a handful are compulsory.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Philip Hollobone Con
Justice & Courts
Context

The question concerns the negotiation of prisoner transfer agreements with other countries, following a similar arrangement made with Albania.

Question

If he will take steps to negotiate prisoner transfer arrangements similar to those agreed with Albania with other countries.

Answer from Alex Chalk

Our prisoner transfer agreement with Albania came into force in May 2022. To build on that, as I have mentioned before, we announced a new arrangement with the Albanian Government in May this year to speed up prisoner transfers to Albania of the most serious offenders. The Government will energetically pursue bilateral agreements with EU partners and wider-world partners wherever possible.

Answered
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Q2 Philip Hollobone Con
Immigration Justice & Courts
Context

The question concerns the details of prisoner transfer agreements, noting that out of a prison population of 85,000, approximately 10,000 prisoners are foreign nationals. It questions the number of compulsory prisoner transfer agreements.

Question

Will the Secretary of State confirm that out of a prison population of 85,000, about 10,000 prisoners—12%—are foreign national offenders? He said earlier that we have over 100 prisoner transfer agreements, but only a handful of them are compulsory, where we send prisoners back whether they want to go back or not. Can we have more compulsory prisoner transfer agreements with countries that have a large number of nationals in our jails?

Answer from Alex Chalk

I thank my hon. Friend for raising this issue consistently—he was raising it when I first came to the House in 2015, and he is absolutely right to do so. Yes, we will continue to work on the issue. At the risk of stating the obvious, those agreements have to be agreed to by the other nation, but I can assure him that those matters are getting very close focus and attention.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The government's inability to unilaterally make compulsory prisoner transfer agreements without consent from other nations.

How: Those Agreements Have To Be Agreed To By The Other Nation

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