Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 20 January to Question 23582 on Undocumented Migrants, what information her Department holds on the number of irregular migrants defined as absconders.

The requested data is not readily accessible from published statistics, and could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at a disproportionate cost.

Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data.