The home secretary has revealed that 98 of the 1,023 foreign prisoners released without being considered for deportation remain at large.

John Reid told MPs in a written statement on Monday that one murderer and eight rapists or child sex offenders are among the number.

He revised the level of serious offenders freed to 179 from 150 but insisted the police were bringing the crisis under control.

Although several offenders remain undetected, the minister announced that all 1,023 had now been assessed and consideration for deportation had started in 880 cases, resulting in 649 decisions to deport.

"Progress continues to be made in the operation to deal with the released foreign prisoners. The operation is prioritising the serious cases first," Reid said in the statement.

However 57 serious offenders have gone on to commit further crimes following their release from jail, with 19 involving violence or a "sexual element".

Speaking at Home Office questions in the Commons on Monday, shadow home secretary David Davis pressed Reid on Tony Blair's pledge to "automatically deport" every foreign offender.

"When does the home secretary believe he will fulfil the prime minister's undertaking of the third of May to automatically deport every foreign national who has served a prison sentence?" he asked.

Reid said the presumption would be that foreign criminals convicted of serious offenders would be deported but refused to provide a timescale.

"It is my aim, as I made plain today, to ensure that foreign nationals who serve significant custodial sentences in this country face deportation automatically," he confirmed.

"I cannot give him, five days into my position, a date by which that will be achieved. But I can assure him that is my strategic objective.

"I can also tell him that I hope to come in the not too distant future to the House with a statement outlining honestly what I see as some of the underlying problems and thereafter putting forward proposals as to how they might be rectified.

"I cannot at this stage tell him in what timescale the proposals may be put forward because I want to make sure that we all, as openly as possible, address underlying problems which I believe in some cases have been in existence for decades, not just weeks, months and years."

Davis noted that "the home secretary did not use the same words" as the prime minister "because we have to deal with reality at the despatch box, not overblown rhetoric".

"In terms of reality, can we now have some facts on the 1,023 foreign prisoners released without consideration?" he asked.

"How many, as of today, have been deported? How many have been detained?

"How many have committed further crimes? And how many does he expect to deport and by when?"

Reid replied that of the 35 most serious offenders, 26 are "under control", all have been considered for deportation and 29 have been recommended for removal from the country.

Of 144 "more serious" offenders, more than 70 of whom have only recently been added to the category, 55 are under control, 129 have been considered for deportation, resulting in 115 decisions to deport, 15 decisions not to deport and six deported.