EU Migrants: National Insurance Numbers Debate

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Department: Home Office

EU Migrants: National Insurance Numbers

Henry Smith Excerpts
Thursday 12th May 2016

(7 years, 11 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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James Brokenshire Portrait James Brokenshire
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A clear amount of detailed work has been conducted by the ONS to produce today’s report, drawing together different information from the Department for Work and Pensions, Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs and its own assessment. I hope my hon. Friend will recognise that the report comes independently from the ONS, in order to give that assurance and clarity, which I think it does give.

Henry Smith Portrait Henry Smith (Crawley) (Con)
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Is the IPS not, by definition, random and self-selecting? Is not the best way to measure the number of people in this country to ensure that passports or identity cards are swiped on the way into it and on exiting it?

James Brokenshire Portrait James Brokenshire
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The ONS clearly says that the IPS is the best measure available to assess our long-term net migration numbers. We will continue to see how issues such as the availability of exit check data may help to enrich and support the ONS’s analysis, but its report’s conclusions today make it clear that the IPS remains the best measure.