§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many successful prosecutions were brought in the last 12 months for which figures are available against illegal immigrants, the punishment for which resulted in deportation.
§ Dr. SummerskillI assume that the hon. Member is referring to illegal entrants within the meaning of Section 33(1) of the Immigration Act 1971—that is, persons unlawfully entering or seeking to enter the United Kingdom in breach of a deportation order or of the immigration laws, including persons who have so entered. An illegal entrant is deemed to have been refused leave to enter and 329W may be removed, without recourse to prosecution or deportation, in accordance with directions given by an immigration officer.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will list the total number of immigrants into the United Kingdom from the following countries for each of the years 1960 to 1975; Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Rhodesia, South Africa, Hong Kong, Trinidad, Barbados, Malawi, Tobago, Australia, New Zealand and Canada;
(2) what was the total number of immigrants into the United Kingdom for each of the years from 1960 to 1975.
§ Dr. SummerskillThe available information will be found in the White Paper "Control of Immigration, Statistics 1975" (Cmnd. 6504) and corresponding publications for previous years. There was no control over immigration by Commonwealth citizens into the United Kingdom before 1st July 1962.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is his estimate of the number of illegal immigrants currently in the United Kingdom.
§ Dr. SummerskillBecause of the nature of the offence, it is inherently impossible to make a reliable estimate of the number of illegal entrants at present in the United Kingdom.