Downing Street Says » Foreign Prisoners

Asked when the Prime Minister first heard that over 1000 foreign prisoners in the UK had been released rather than deported, the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman (PMOS) said that what was important was that we had put our hands up and said that we recognised that what had happened was deeply regrettable to say the least. There was clearly a failure to deal with all the cases in the way they should have been dealt with. What was now important was that we had increased resources in this area, increasing the IND’s caseworking capacity with an extra £2.7million allocated within IND to deal with foreign national prisoners. This would allow us to commence deportation proceedings 12 months before a prisoner was due for release to ensure that prisoners were removed from the country at the appropriate time. In recognition of how this problem arose, Charles Clarke has said that he would bring together the key players involved at least twice a year at ministerial level and quarterly at official level to create and take ownership of an effective strategy for dealing with these issues. We recognised there was a problem, we regretted that problem but we had set out a series of very practical steps to deal with it.

Asked why pleading guilty and promising not to do it again should get ministers off the hook on this, the PMOS said that in this case ministers had not known about this issue. The important thing was that when they had found out about it action had been taken. Put to him that this would never have come to light had Richard Bacon MP not asked about it, the PMOS said that he wouldn’t pretend that that wasn’t part of finding out the problem but also this was a result of the improvements that were taking place in IND. Questioned further, the PMOS said that there was an ongoing process in strengthening the system for identifying foreign national prisoners and that played a part in revealing the problem.

Asked if the Prime Minister agreed that no one need resign over this, the PMOS said that the Prime Minister agreed that ministers had taken appropriate action and he still had full confidence in both Tony McNulty and Charles Clarke. Asked if either Charles Clarke or Tony McNulty had offered to resign, the PMOS said no. Asked if there would be any disciplinary action within the departments, the PMOS said that Tony McNulty had said that these matters were being looked at.

Put to him that ministers should be aware of what was going on within their own departments, the PMOS said that when the problem was discovered it was dealt with. Asked if ministers just thought that we weren’t sending people back, the PMOS said that we had been sending people back. In fact as he understood it some 3000 foreign prisoners had been sent back over a relatively short period. Put to him that there had been complaints about this for some times, the PMOS said that he wouldn’t get into timings. However this problem did not originate because of policy decisions by ministers, this problem was a result of a breakdown in communication.

Asked what was supposed to happen to foreign nationals in UK prisons, the PMOS said that if the court said they should be considered for deportation then they should be considered for deportation. In these cases that hadn’t happened. That was the problem. Put to him that spending more money on this suggested that there had been clear failures, the PMOS said that what he suggested was that we recognised that there was a problem and a system was being set up to prevent that problem happening again. That didn’t mean there was a policy problem. If there was a communication problem then money had to spent to make sure that that communication happened.

Put to him that it was the minister’s responsibility to make the system work properly and ask questions and that we shouldn’t be relying on individual MPs doing the minister’s job for them, the PMOS said that it was unreasonable to expect ministers to know what was going on in every nook and cranny of their department. The question therefore was one of when you realised there was a problem did you respond in policy terms and deal with the problem? The answer in this case was yes they had. Put to him that if a lone backbencher could think of this question how could it be that no minister had thought of this, the PMOS said that there were many issues in front of ministers and it was the job of House of Commons committees to ask pointed questions about particular issues of policy. If you discovered that there was a problem, the question was how did you respond to that. That was what had happened in this case.

Asked what the Prime Minister’s reaction was when he found out about this, the PMOS said that needless to say he was hardly pleased by this. Equally however he recognised that ministers had dealt with the issue. Problems did arrive in Government, the question was how did you respond to that.

Asked if it wasn’t a bit odd that the Home Secretary had held a press conference about this rather than informing Parliament, the PMOS said that Parliament was involved in that the PAC were the people who asked the questions.

6 Comments »

Setting aside all of the preceding nonsense, presumably the PMOS believes that it is for the PAC to inform the House. Or does he believe that a statement to the PAC is exactly the same as a statement in the Chamber?

Since the PMOS comments above several direct contradictions of his position have emerged, and these clearly show that PMOS is either lying or is incompetent.
Comment by Chuck Unsworth — 26 Apr 2006 on 2:35 pm | Link
Two Shags and naughty foreigners on the loose – provides the Perfect Fog to hide behind if the local elections go as badly as they say they might.
Comment by Mr Pooter — 26 Apr 2006 on 2:54 pm | Link
And – hey guys

If Tony is too dim to have asked the obvious questions about WMD and ‘battlefield weapons’ then you can hardly expect one of his recruited morons to ask the obvious questions about the department that he runs.

As for two shags – I’m just gobsmacked – an attractive woman willingly decides to give that fat ugly dimwit a shag!!! – and keeps doing it for 2 years….
Comment by Roger Huffadine — 26 Apr 2006 on 6:11 pm | Link
Well it must be something like watching a hippopotamus rutting – interesting but not particularly elegant and pretty distasteful generally. I can’t believe Attenborough would want to include it in his programmes. It’s a ‘not before’ and ‘not after’ watershed item.

Still today’s revelations have effective neutralised two more of Tony’s pals. All credibility blown to the winds, Blair strapped to the mainmast as the great ship of State founders. It’ll be ‘liferaft’ next. Who’s going to get turfed out first?
Comment by Chuck Unsworth — 26 Apr 2006 on 7:47 pm | Link
what about prisoner who have there younge child here , have no on to go back to in thtre country.
will the goverment think aboutv the small child ?
that is may only concren, and also if the person in prison came in this country as a minor case, and still await answers from the home office .
Comment by shane ie — 21 Oct 2006 on 12:19 am | Link
what about prisoner who have there younge child here , have no on to go back to in thtre country.
will the goverment think aboutv the small child ?
that is may only concren, and also if the person in prison came in this country as a minor case, and still await answers from the home office .
Comment by shane ie — 21 Oct 2006 on 12:20 am | Link

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» Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Foreign Prisoners

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