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Exclusion Orders
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many exclusion orders have been issued or renewed since May; how many orders are presently in force; and if he will make a statement. [7375]
Mr. Straw: Two orders have been renewed and two have been allowed to lapse. There are currently 20 orders in force. I am currently considering when and under what conditions it might be safe to remove the power of exclusion from the statute book in the context of wider consideration of prevention of terrorism legislation.
Deportation Orders
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many deportation orders have been made against Irish nationals in each of the past 10 years. [7388]
Mr. Mike O'Brien: The available information, which runs only from 1993, is given in the table.
| Number | |
|---|---|
| 1993 | 9 |
| 1994 | 3 |
| 1995 | 2 |
| 1996(2) | 5 |
(2) Provisional data.
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Prisoners (Transfers)
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 19 May, Official Report, column 8, how many prisoners transferred to Northern Ireland on a temporary basis subsequently applied for a permanent transfer in each year since 1992; and how many of these requests were granted. [7389]
Ms Joyce Quin: The number of prisoners granted a temporary transfer who subsequently requested a permanent transfer, and the number of such requests granted, in each year since 1992 are as detailed in the table.
| 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of applications | 5 | 2 | 13 | 6 | 11 | (3)3 | |
| Number granted3 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | ||
(3) One request is still under consideration.
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 19 May, Official Report, column 8, if he will list for each year since 1992 the number of prisoners transferred from England to Northern Ireland on a temporary basis and those granted a permanent transfer, in each case identifying the seriousness of the crime for which they were convicted. [7390]
Ms Quin: The seriousness of a person's crimes is determined by the courts and reflected in the length of sentence imposed for the offence committed.
| Prisoners serving less than four years | Prisoners serving over four years | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Temporary | Permanent | Temporary | Permanent | |
| 1992 | 2 | 0 | 11 | 5 |
| 1993 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 1994 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 5 |
| 1995 | 0 | 2 | 26 | 11 |
| 1996 | 0 | 3 | 39 | 3 |
| 1997 | 0 | 2 | 29 | 0 |
The table includes renewals of temporary transfer for prisoners previously transferred to Northern Ireland on a temporary basis.
Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 22 May, Official Report, column 8, how many applications for temporary or permanent prison transfers to Northern Ireland have been successful in each month since September 1994. [7391]
Ms Quin:
Further to the answer given to my hon. Friend on 22 May 1997, a review of the data supplied has revealed that the information given was incomplete. This was due to errors in transferring data to the central
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records, resulting in some omissions. In addition, the reply did not include all the renewals of periods of temporary transfer for prisoners previously transferred to Northern Ireland on a temporary basis.
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The total number of permanent and temporary transfers granted in each month since September 1994 is given in the table:
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| 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TT (5) | PT (6) | TT | PT | TT | PT | TT | PT | |
| January | -- | -- | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 2 |
| February | -- | -- | 5 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| March | -- | -- | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| April | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
| May | -- | -- | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| June | -- | -- | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| July | -- | -- | 5 | 4 | 5 | 1 | -- | -- |
| August | -- | -- | 4 | 0 | 7 | 0 | -- | -- |
| September | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | -- | -- |
| October | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | -- | -- |
| November | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | -- | -- |
| December | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | -- | -- |
(4) The table includes three applications which were approved, but the applicants later withdrew their request or were released before transfer could be effected.
(5) Temporary transfer.
(6) Permanent transfer.
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Mr. McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will implement the recommendations of the 1992 inter-departmental review of the provisions governing transfer of prisoners between United Kingdom jurisdictions, with particular reference to the amendment of legislation; [7392]
- (2) if he will introduce arrangements to transfer responsibility for granting compassionate parole and other matters of regime for prisoners on temporary extended transfer to Northern Ireland to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. [7393]
Ms Quin: The Government remain committed to the statement made in the House on 23 November 1992 by the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State accepting the recommendations of the inter-departmental working group on prisoner transfers. New legislative provisions governing the transfer of prisoners between United Kingdom jurisdictions are contained in schedule 1 of the Crime (Sentences) Act 1997.
Arrangements relating to the handling of transfer requests and of transferred prisoners including decisions on temporary release, are currently being reviewed. We will make an announcement as soon as possible about implementation of these provisions.
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what instructions have been issued to prison governors to assist Irish prisoners who may wish to transfer to Northern Ireland or the Irish Republic; and what information is available for (a) prisoners and (b) their legal representatives to enable them to make an application. [7394]
Ms Quin:
Applications submitted by Irish prisoners for transfer to another jurisdiction or for repatriation to the Republic of Ireland are treated in exactly the same way as any other application for transfer or repatriation submitted by a prisoner. Information to governors on the
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procedures to be followed in dealing with transfer and repatriation requests are contained in the following documents:
Transfer applications are determined in accordance with criteria announced to Parliament on 23 November 1992 by the then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State.
Additional information, in response to specific enquiries from prisoners or their representatives, is provided by the transfer and repatriation section of the Prison Service.
Copies of, or relevant extracts from the documents detailed above have been placed in the Library.
Mr. Corbyn:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many approved applications for transfer to the Irish Republic received from the Minister of Justice are still awaiting his decision. [8480]
Ms Quin:
Eleven applications for repatriation to the Republic of Ireland, approved by the Irish authorities, remain to be determined.
Mr. McNamara:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his answer of 21 May, Official Report, column 77, what progress has been made in reviewing special secure unit operating standards following the report of Sir Donald Acheson concerning open visits by members of prisoners' immediate family.[7895]
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Ms Joyce Quin:
The special secure unit (SSU) operating standards were reviewed following the receipt of Sir Donald Acheson's report in June 1996. The standards were amended to implement recommendations covering health reviews of prisoners, transfer of prisoners requiring emergency treatment in national health service hospitals and sentence management.
These documents are available to prisoners. In addition, information on both transfer and repatriation is contained in the Prisoners' Information Book, which is issued to all prisoners.
Repatriation
Instruction to Governors 101/95
Foreign Prisoners' Resource Pack (Staff section)
Transfer and Repatriation
Prisoners' Requests/Complaints Procedures Manual (section H).
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