Dear Mr Taylor,

Thank you for your recent enquiry regarding the length of, and reasons for, continued detention. You previously submitted a similar request (FOI 12063) and our Freedom of Information Team referred you to the UK Border Agency's Research and Development Statistical website. However, you have now submitted a second request which falls to be dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. You have asked for the following information.

`I am interested in knowing how many individuals the UK believes has been "disowned" by their own countries and therefore cannot be deported to the countries we think they are from? I would also like to see a breakdown of how long those in this situation have been held for. I am asking for statistics which would reveal what other general reasons there are which are resulting in individuals being detained for long periods of time while awaiting deportation or awaiting decisions on their immigration status.

As part of the Home Office, the UK Border Agency is not obliged to comply with any information request where the prescribed costs of supplying you with the information exceed £600. The £600 limit applies to all central government departments and is based on work being carried out at a rate of £25 per hour, which equates to 31/2 days work per request. Prescribed costs include those which cover the cost of locating and retrieving information, and preparing our response to you. They do not include considering whether any information is exempt from disclosure, overheads such as heating or lighting, or disbursements such as photocopying or postage.

I can confirm that we do hold some of the information which you are interested in but have estimated that the cost of answering your request would exceed the £600 limit and we are therefore unable to comply with it. The information requested could only be obtained by examining individual records at disproportionate costs. Although your request would at present be too costly to answer, if you refine it so that it falls under the cost limit we will consider it further. You should however be aware that if you break your request down into a series of smaller requests, we might, depending on the circumstances of the case, decline to answer if the aggregated cost of complying exceeds £600, as permitted by the Fees Regulations.

Even if a new request were to fall below the £600 limit, the information you request might be withheld under the terms of a number of substantive exemptions contained in part II of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. These exemptions could also make it necessary for us to extend the period of responding beyond the usual 20 working day target if they involve having to consider the public interest balancing test.

If you are dissatisfied with this response you may request an independent internal review of our handling of your request. Internal review request should be submitted within two months of the UK Border Agency sending a substantive reply to your original request and should be addressed to:

Information Access Policy Team

(Freedom of Information Team)

UK Border Agency

11th Floor, Short Corridor

Lunar House

Wellesley Road

Croydon, CR9 2BY

During the independent review the department's handling of your information request will be reassessed by staff who were not involved in providing you with this response. Should you remain dissatisfied after this internal review, you will have a right of complaint to the Information Commissioner as established by section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act.

Yours sincerely

David Goggin

Criminality and Detention Group

UK Border Agency