§ Miss Maynardasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many prisoners there currently are in British prisons who could be deported; and what is the Government's policy regarding such prisoners; and what the annual saving would be if a policy were adopted of deporting all prisoners who could be made the subject of a deportation order by the Home Secretary under existing provisions of the Immigration Act 1971, or had already been ordered deportation by the trial judge, on the date that they would otherwise normally be first considered for parole.
§ Mr. Merlyn ReesIt is not possible to say precisely how many people liable to deportation are held in prison but on 15th March there were, in addition to 71 persons against whom deportation orders had been made, 61 persons who were the subject of a recommendation by a court and a further 20 who were being held under detention orders made under paragraph 2(2) of Schedule 3 to the Immigration Act 1971 pending the making of deportation orders.
Each case is considered on its merits as near as practicable to a prisoner's earliest expected date of release. Because the major part of prison expenditure arises from fixed costs, it is not possible to isolate the costs of particular categories of detainee or to attribute significant savings to the withdrawal of individuals.