HC Deb 22 March 2004 vol 419 cc527-8W
20. Mr. Gray

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many immigrants came to the UK from Eastern Europe in the last 12 months. [162538]

Beverley Hughes

Estimates of total international migration produced by the Office for National Statistics are compiled from a range of survey and administrative sources. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) is unable to provide reliable estimate of the immigration of Eastern European nationals to the UK for the latest year for which data are available (2002), as the low sample sizes in the main survey source (the International Passenger Survey) result in such an estimate being subject to a high degree of error. For the last three years, 2000–02, combined it is estimated that 49,900 Eastern European citizens migrated to the UK.