HC Deb 20 May 1976 vol 911 cc635-6W
40. Mr. Anthony Grant

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he remains satisfied with the working of the Acts controlling immigration into the United Kingdom.

Mr. Roy Jenkins

The relevant statute is the Immigration Act 1971. My concern in operating the immigration control is to do justice to the claims of potential immigrants while recognising the limited capacity of this country to absorb further immigration. Striking the balance is not easy, and for this reason I keep the operation of the Act constantly under review.

Mr. George

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he can now give the outcome of the inquiry by Sir Claus Moser into the signficance of the figures for arrivals and embarkations of people subject to immigration control; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Roy Jenkins

I have received Sir Claus Moser's report on this matter. Following is a summary which he has prepared of his main findings and of his findings in his earlier report on the error which affected the figures of embarkation during 1973 and part of 1974. Copies of both reports have been placed in the Library.

As I said in reply to Questions on 12th February—[Vol. 905, c. 594–6]— I am satisfied by the first report that the error which occurred in the embarkation figures was due to lack of clarity in instructions and to defects in the supervision of those concerned in the counting. There was also an imprecise division of responsibility within the Home Office for the interpretation and presentation to Ministers of statistics on the immigration control. This has been remedied.

Sir Claus Moser found in his second report that the embarkation figures, and hence the net balance between figures of admissions and embarkations, are inherently unreliable, unlike the figures for settlement. In view of this finding, which confirms the view that this Government and its predecessors have taken, I have decided not to publish in future the embarkation figures, previously included in Table 2 of the annual White Paper on statistics relating to immigration control. The White Paper for 1975 will be published in the near future.

I am grateful to Sir Claus for undertaking this examination of our procedures. Some of his proposals for improvement have already been put into effect. I am giving careful consideration, in the light of their resource implications, to the remainder.