HC Deb 24 April 1980 vol 983 cc229-30W
Mr. Alton

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Italians have settled in the United Kingdom since British entry into the European Economic Community; and how many Britons have gone to live permanently in Italy.

Mr. Raison

Statistics on the number of Italians accepted for settlement in the United Kingdom are published annually by the Home Office in " Control of Immigration Statistics "—table 4(c) of the issue for 1979, Cmnd. 7875, published on 18 April 1980. The Home Office has no information available on the number of Britons who have gone to live permanently in Italy.

However, the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys make annual estimates from the international passenger survey of the number of citizens of various countries who leave, or enter, the United Kingdom with the intention of remaining abroad, or of staying in the United Kingdom, for at least a year. It is so estimated that during the period 1974–78, 4,000 more Italian citizens left the United Kingdom to reside abroad than came here to stay; and 3,000 more citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies left the United Kingdom to reside in Italy than came from Italy to stay in the United Kingdom.