Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Office for National Statistics has made an estimate of the (a) number and (b) proportion of people who are potentially in the UK illegally.

The Home Office publishes a statistical release with an overview of people who come to the UK irregularly. It includes those arriving on a small boat across the English Channel, along with some other groups arriving without prior lawful permission. The Office for National Statistics does not publish this information.

The most recent Home Office statistics, for the year ending June 2024, are available on gov.uk. As was the case under the previous administration, these statistics should not be used to infer the size of the irregular population in the UK, nor the total number of people entering the UK irregularly.