§ Miss Richardsonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether arrangements have been made to collect the additional statistical information on dependants other than wives and children, such as parents, grandparents and distressed relatives, referred to in the White Paper on Immigration, Cmnd. 7287; and what is the number of parents, grandparents and distressed relatives admitted and accepted for settlement in whatever recent period for which this information is available.
§ Mr. WhitelawThe provision of statistical information on dependants other than wives and children has been kept under review. The number of men and women in the category "others accepted for settlement (mainly dependants)", which, when United Kingdom passport holders are excluded, is close to the total number of parents, grandparents and disstressed relatives, is published annually in "Control of Immigration Statistics"—tables 3(a) and 3(b) of the issue for 1978, Cmnd. 7565—by citizenship and nationality. Statistics are also collected on the number of entry clearance certificates issued and on queue lengths of 145W "dependent relatives (other than wives and children)" in the Indian subcontinent, and these are shown in the table below.
No decision has been taken whether to collect more information to supplement that already available; the collection of additional information by type of such acceptances for settlement would involve appreciable additional work for immigration officers. The possibility of analysing information already on the landing cards on the age of those so accepted is at present being examined.
Entry clearances granted for settlement to dependent relatives other than wives and children, and queue lengths, Indian subcontinent.
thousands Entry clearances granted in 1977 1.3 Entry clearances granted in 1978 1.3
Queue lengths at end of March 1977 3.0 June 1977 2.7 September 1977 2.5 December 1977 2.3 March 1978 2.1 June 1978 1.9 September 1978 1.8 December 1978 1.9