§ Chris GraylingTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many immigrants he estimates have entered the United Kingdom from the new EU countries since May. [189534]
§ Mr. TimmsThe information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician. I have asked him to reply.
Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Chris Grayling, dated 23 September 2004:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question regarding estimates for the number of people migrating to the UK from the new EU countries since May 2004. (189534)
The information requested is not available.
Estimates of total international migration produced by the Office for National Statistics are compiled from a range of survey and administrative sources on an annual basis. Estimates of people migrating from the EU to the UK are primarily produced from the International Passenger Survey. This survey has a small sample size for the EU accession countries, which results in any estimates being subject to a high degree of error. Consequently, it is our present judgement that we will be unable to release reliable estimates for a single year for the accession countries when the 2004 data are published.