Immigration (Hansard, 1 May 2003)

§ Lynne Jones
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he has collated from the study to estimate the size and characteristics of the population of people with irregular immigration status. [110483]

§ Beverley Hughes
Estimating the numbers entering Britain illegally is difficult because illegal migrants, by definition, put themselves outside of official statistics. Illegal migrants are motivated to ensure they remain hidden, and this is a challenge to conducting research.
At present there is no defined method for estimating the size of the illegally resident population in the UK and therefore no official estimate is available.
526W
The Home Office has commissioned a review of methods used in other countries to estimate the size of their illegal populations. The research was commissioned in order to help define methods appropriate for the UK. On the basis of this information and the likely sources of UK information we will actively consider our next steps.
The research is currently being finalised and the Home Office anticipate publishing the results, assuming the research is deemed to be of sufficient quality. Hard copies of research publications are placed in the Library. However, the research may be published as an online report, in which case it will be accessible and downloadable from the Home Office, Research Development and Statistics website.

§ Lynne Jones
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he has collated on the number of people with irregular immigration status who have children born in the UK, and the status of those children. [110485]

§ Beverley Hughes
There is no information available on the numbers or status of children of irregular migrants in the UK.

§ Simon Hughes
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the backlog of correspondence from hon. Members is at the Immigration and Nationality Directorate. [109608]

§ Beverley Hughes
The Immigration and Nationality Directorate receive approximately 15,000 letters from Members of Parliament each year. Over 1,600 letters were cleared in a recent exercise to reduce correspondence backlogs. Of those still outstanding there are only a very small number with a target date before 1 April 2003.

§ Simon Hughes
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many detainees have(a) committed suicide and (b) been self-injured in each immigration removal centre in the UK in each of the last five years. [109509]

§ Beverley Hughes
There have been two apparent self-inflicted deaths in immigration removal centres in the last five years. Records of incidents of self-harm are not kept centrally and the requested information is not therefore available.

§ Simon Hughes
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of those who are detained under immigration rules have been held in more than one removal centre. [109511]

§ Beverley Hughes
The latest available information on those in detention shows that at 28 December 2002, 1,145 people were detained solely under Immigration Act powers. The number of these who had been detained in more than one removal centre is not available and could be obtained only by examination of individual case-files at disproportionate cost.
Information on Immigration Act detainees as at 29 March 2003 is due to be published at the end of May 2003 on the Ho me Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate website at: http://www.homeoffice.gov uk/rds/immigration1.html