Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government why individuals who enter under the Afghan Citizen Resettlement Scheme are not currently included in the quarterly Immigration Statistics publications; and what plans, if any, they have to include them.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the noble Lord’s Parliamentary Question of 5 December is attached.
Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician
The Lord Rosser
House of Lords
London
SW1A 0PW
12 December 2022
Dear Lord Rosser,
As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking why individuals who enter under the Afghan Citizen Resettlement Scheme are not currently included in the quarterly Immigration Statistics publications; and what plans, if any, they have to include them (HL4035).
In your question, you refer to “quarterly immigration statistics publications”. If referring to the Home Office data Immigration statistics, year ending September 2022[1] , this was published on 24 November 2022, and contains a webpage entitled ‘How many people do we grant protection to?’ [2] . This page provides details of the inclusion of people resettled from Afghanistan in those statistics (see section 1.1 Resettlement).
The Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) Migration Statistics Quarterly Report (MSQR), has not been published since August 2020[3] and therefore will not contain information on the Afghan citizen resettlement scheme, which opened on 6 January 2022[4] . In our most recent Long-term international migration bulletin (published on 24 November 2022), Section 4, Migration Events[5] details that around 21,000 Afghans arrived in the UK and are included in the ONS’ total longterm international migration estimates.
This figure is based on published Home Office operational data, which estimates around 21,000 arrivals are associated with Operation PITTING (the evacuation of people from Afghanistan in August 2021), and are included in our total immigration estimates. This figure will include some British nationals. Similar to those arriving on the Ukrainian Visa Schemes, in the absence of reliable evidence to suggest otherwise, this subpopulation are included under the assumption that they are arriving in the UK for 12 months or more. This means that these estimates will be an upper bound for these populations and may be revised down once we have more information on their actual length of stay. Please see the Measuring the data section[6] for more detail on our methods.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Sir Ian Diamond
[1] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-september-2022
[2] https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-statistics-year-ending-september-2022/how-many-people-do-we-grant-protection-to
[3] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/bulletins/migrationstatisticsquarterlyreport/previousReleases
[4] https://www.gov.uk/guidance/afghan-citizens-resettlement-scheme
[5] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/bulletins/longterminternationalmigrationprovisional/yearendingjune2022#migration-events
[6] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/bulletins/longterminternationalmigrationprovisional/yearendingjune2022#measuring-the-data
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, following the announcement of the lockdown on 23 March, between which dates was the letter and enclosed leaflet from the Prime Minister updating recipients on the steps being taken to combat COVID-19 despatched; and what were the maximum number of days allowed, under any contractual arrangements, between date of despatch and date of delivery.
Answered by Lord True - Shadow Leader of the House of Lords
In light of the Coronavirus pandemic, the Government has developed a national campaign to provide information, guidance and reassurance to the public.
As part of this, a letter from the Prime Minister was sent to every UK household to urge them to stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives. It also outlined the guidance everyone should follow and the measures the government has put in place to fight coronavirus and to support businesses and workers.
The letter was despatched into Royal Mail’s postal system between 31 March and 6 April. Royal Mail confirmed delivery of all letters by the end of 15 April.
Details of commercially sensitive information such as specific contractual agreements are not normally disclosed.
Asked by: Lord Rosser (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, in the light of official figures published in August showing that the number of international students overstaying their visas was lower than previously estimated by the ONS, what changes have been made to the quarterly net migration statistics.
Answered by Lord Young of Cookham
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.