Charles Clarke

ePolitix.com answers some of the key questions in the row over the release of foreign prisoners.

What is the problem?

In his oral statement to MPs on Wednesday, home secretary Charles Clarke confirmed that "to the best of his knowledge", between February 1999 and March 2006 some 1,023 foreign national criminals who should have been considered for deportation or removal were released "without the appropriate consideration".

He said the "failure was deeply regrettable" and his "immediate priority is to set that right".

Downing Street added: "This is about whether people should be considered for deportation, not whether they should serve their sentence."

Why has this occurred?

Clarke claimed Home Office arrangements "have not kept pace with the considerable rise" in the number of foreign prisoners. This has gone up due a general rise in the prison population and a crackdown on illegal immigration and drug trafficking.

The government blames a communications breakdown between the Home Office's Prison Service and its Immigration and Nationality Directorate (IND) as the numbers increased

How did it come to light?

In January 2005, new management came into the IND and began to uncover the problem. The National Audit Office and Commons public accounts committee have also asked key questions.

Ministers became aware in summer/autumn last year. At that point an extra £2.7m was given to the IND to deal with the problem and the number of staff working in the area was doubled.

Why has the row exploded now?

In February and March of this year ministers became aware that the problem was continuing, despite the original identification of it to Home Office ministers last summer.

Between summer and the end of March, 288 people were released without being considered for deportation.

Tony Blair was told about this last week, with Clarke offering to resign and MPs being informed in a written statement on Tuesday.

Number 10 insisted the continuing problem was not Clarke's fault. "You can't turn a system around overnight," the prime minister's spokesman said.

As of April 1 no foreign prisoners have been released without being considered for deportation.

Will any released prisoners now be deported?

The Home Office has stepped up efforts to catch those who should have been considered for deportation.

Of the 1,023, 355 have been considered since in some way, of which 107 have been completed and resulting in 20 deportations.

Of the 288, 83 have since had considerations begun and 14 have been deported.

The government suggested that the 288 should be easier to track down because they had been released recently, but others may be harder because their probation licensing period has run out.

Should Clarke resign?

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats say he should take responsibility as head of the department and resign.

Downing Street says the mistakes were operational and therefore the responsibility of civil servants, although not senior staff, rather than policy decisions by ministers.

Number 10 believes that Clarke has put in place corrective measures and is best placed to introduce further reforms.

What happens now?

Clarke appears to have strong enough backing from Blair to survive, for now.

While some sections of the press are calling for his head, the calls could intensify if any of the released prisoners, particularly the 288 on Clarke's watch, are found to have committed further crimes or further revelations of mistakes emerge.

Questions are also being asked over the department's general level of competence following previous scandals and its key role in introducing the massive identity cards scheme.

Some commentators believe the Home Office has too many responsibilities to focus on at once and should be broken up.