| Previous Section | Index | Home Page |
22 Jan 2008 : Column 1866W—continued
| Nationality | Total |
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many estimates her Department has made of the illegal migrant population since 1997; what methodology was employed to produce each such estimate; what those estimates were; what research her Department has (a) commissioned and (b) evaluated into the size of the illegal migrant population in the UK since 1997; and if she will make a statement. [177393]
Mr. Byrne: No Government have ever been able to produce an accurate figure for the number of people who are in the country illegally. By its very nature it is impossible to quantify accurately and that remains the case. Exit controls were phased out from 1994 but are being re-instated from this year, so it will become possible to count people in and out of the country. ID cards for foreign nationals are also going to be introduced.
Illegal Immigrants: Employment
Mr. Blunt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate she has made of the number of illegal migrants working in the UK. [175216]
Mr. Byrne: No Government of the United Kingdom has been able to produce an accurate estimate for the number of illegal migrants in the country, and this is the case for any Government in the world.
Immigration
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many grants of settlement on the basis of family formation and reunion were made in (a) 1987, (b) 1997 and (c) the most recent year for which figures are available; and which 10 nationalities obtained the most such grants in each of those years. [177474]
Mr. Byrne:
Total grants of settlement on the basis of family formation and reunion are published in the yearly Command Paper “Control of Immigration: Statistics United Kingdom”. This publication may be
obtained from the Library of the House and from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics website:
Immigration and Nationality Directorate
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what discussions she has had with local authorities on the legacy exercise dealing with the former Immigration and Nationality Directorate’ caseload; and what representations she has made to local authorities on the accommodation of those dealt with under the exercise and the costs thereof. [177325]
Mr. Byrne: The Secretary of State for the Home Department has had no discussions with local authorities on the work of the Case Resolution Directorate.
However, I and my officials have worked closely with local authorities in dealing specifically with families who are no longer entitled to asylum support.
The Border and Immigration Agency has offered to reimburse unavoidable transitional costs incurred by local authorities in dealing with the cases when families are given leave to remain.
Immigration Controls: Skilled Workers
Mark Pritchard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when she expects to announce details of the blue card scheme for non-EU migrant workers. [175444]
Mr. Byrne: Our initial view is that the Directive is incompatible with the Points Based System because of its (the Directive’s) requirement for a job offer, a minimum salary level and provisions on equal treatment.
Immigration: Deportation
Mr. Clappison: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of those deported or otherwise removed from the UK as illegal migrants in each year since 2001 had entered the UK on a student visa; and what estimate she has made of the number of student visa holders in the UK who have overstayed. [177395]
Mr. Byrne: Information on the number of people who have been removed from the United Kingdom (UK) having entered on a student visa could be obtained by the detailed examination of individual case records only at disproportionate cost.
As the then Home Secretary set out in his evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee on 23 May 2006, following the dismantling of routine embarkation controls beginning in 1994, no Government has been able to produce an accurate figure for the number of people who are in the country illegally, and that remains the case.
A clear goal has been set to reintroduce systems to count everyone in and out of the UK. The e-Borders programme, scheduled to commence this year, will strengthen and modernise our border control including
providing an electronic record of all those entering and leaving the UK. We expect to count 95 per cent. of all passengers in and out of the country by the end of 2010.
In the meantime, targeted embarkation controls continue to take place at major ports to identify failed asylum seekers and other immigration offenders who are leaving the UK, and the Border and Immigration Agency is reviewing its capacity to extend these.
Immigration: Turkey
Mr. Clappison:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many citizens of Turkey have
had their applications for permanent leave to remain (a) considered and (b) granted under the provisions of the European Community Association Agreement in each year since the inception of the agreement. [178330]
Mr. Byrne: Since 2000 48 Turkish citizens have had applications for Indefinite Leave to Remain (ILR) under the provisions of the European Community Association Agreement considered with 34 (71 per cent.) of these granted.
The following table provides annual breakdown of applications.
| 1973-99 | 2000-03 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008( 1) | Total | |
| (1) January only. (2) Data unavailable. Note: The figures quoted are ‘not’ provided under National Statistics protocols and have been derived from local management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change. | ||||||||
Full information on all decisions relating to Turkish nationals making applications for the period May 2005 to December 2006 under terms of the agreement was published by the Home Office in February 2007 in “European Community Association Agreements Statistics for Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey to 31 December 2006”. A copy of this report will be placed in the House Library.
Offensive Weapons
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many knives were confiscated by the police in the last year for which figures are available. [178234]
Mr. Coaker: Information on knives confiscated by the police is not collated centrally.
Offensive Weapons: Amnesties
Mr. Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many knives were voluntarily handed in to the police in the last year for which figures are available. [178230]
Mr. Coaker: We do not routinely collate figures on the number of knives voluntarily handed to police. However, during the national knife amnesty held between 24 May and 30 June 2006, the number of surrendered items was reported to the Home Office. A total of 89,864 items were handed in to police in England and Wales during that period.
Passports
Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which countries issue passports that are not readable by electronic or automated passport readers; and how many citizens from such countries presented themselves for entry into the United Kingdom in the last year for which figures are available. [163140]
Meg Hillier: A list of countries that do not currently issue machine readable passports and how many citizens from such countries were admitted to the United Kingdom during 2006 is set out in the following table. The list is the International Civil Aviation’s (ICAO) list of those countries that do not issue passports that are capable of being machine read by electronic or automated passport readers.
| Next Section | Index | Home Page |