HC Deb 19 February 1992 vol 204 cc159-60W
Mr. Pawsey

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many immigrants have entered the United Kingdom each year since 1979; and if he will state in each year the countries from which most originated.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

Information on persons accepted for settlement in the United Kingdom in the years 1979–90, by nationality, is given in tables 22 and 14, respectively, of the 1987 and 1990 volumes of the annual Home Office Command Paper "Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom" (Cm 415 and Cm 1571). These figures are of persons subject to immigration control who are granted indefinite leave to remain here.

Information on a different basis is produced by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys from the international passenger survey. This defines a migrant to the United Kingdom as a person who has been resident abroad for more than a year, and who on entry states the intention of residing here for a year or more. This information includes British citizens. The appropriate estimates for 1979–90 are given in the 1988 and 1990 issues of the OPCS publication "International Migration" (series MN, Nos. 15 and 17 respectively) in tables 2.1 and 2.5. These figures exclude migration between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

Copies of the above publications are in the Library. Information for 1991 is not yet available.

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