HL Deb 15 September 2003 vol 652 cc158-9WA
Lord Lamont of Lerwick

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What allowance is made in the long-term annual net migration assumption for those asylum seekers who are refused permission to remain in the United Kingdom but for whom there is no evidence of departure. [HL4272]

Lord McIntosh of Haringey

The migration assumptions underlying the official UK national population projections, produced by the Government Actuary's Department, use the internationally agreed definition of a migrant. A migrant is defined as someone who changes his or her country of usual residence for a period of at least a year so that the country of destination becomes the country of usual residence.

No allowance is made for failed asylum seekers who may remain in the UK for longer than 12 months as there is no reliable evidence on which to base such an estimate.