Member

I understand the concerns that the removal of foreign national offenders so early in their sentence may not be said to always be consistent with the interests of justice. The noble Lord, Lord Verdirame, made this point very clearly and effectively in Committee. However and this point has not been made by any noble Lords who have spoken in this part of the debate so far—I want to be clear that the scheme remains a discretionary scheme and will not be suitable for all foreign national offenders. The Government are not saying that all foreign national offenders will be deported immediately they have been convicted. In practice, prison governors, or the CEO of HMPPS, can and do refuse to authorise some ERS cases.