Police are to be given new powers to speed up the deportation of foreign offenders, David Cameron has said.

Setting out his plans for prison reform, the Prime Minister said ministers would legislate to require foreign criminals to declare their nationality.

"One of the big barriers here is that we don't systematically record the nationality of offenders early enough and this can hamper our ability to deport them," he said.

"We will now legislate to give the police new powers to require foreign nationals to hand over their passports and make them declare nationality in court."

Mr Cameron said that the Government would also work with mobile phone network operators to block mobile signals to jails.