§ Sir John StanleyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many clandestine entrants into the United Kingdom have been detected(a) on entry and (b) in the country in each month since December 2001. [171253]
§ Mr. BrowneIllegal entry action is initiated against those people who are detected having entered or attempting to enter the country clandestinely or by means of deception, either verbal or documentary.
The available figures include those people who were identified as having entered the country clandestinely, they are not separately identifiable as such information would only be available by examination of individual case-files at disproportionate cost. A monthly breakdown of this figure is not available.
48,050 people had illegal entry action initiated against them in 2002.
Information on the number of people against whom illegal entry action was initiated in 2003 will be published later this year in the Home Office Statistical Bulletin "Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom 2002" which can be found on the Home Office website: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/immigration1.html.