Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Renton (Conservative). It was answered by Lord Bassam of Brighton (Labour) on Monday, 30 January 2006.

Foreign-born Mothers

Question: Whether it is the case, as recently reported, that 20 per cent of all births in England and Wales in 2004 were to foreign-born mothers.

Answer: My Lords, that is broadly accurate. Birth registrations gave a total of 124,563 live births occurring in 2004 to mothers who were born outside the United Kingdom, out of a total of 639,721 live births. That has been presented as 19.5 per cent in published statistics and, in turn, rounded to 20 per cent in press reporting. What is not reported is that 7 per cent of that 19.5 per cent have a British-born father and that the 19.5 per cent figure includes those who were born abroad but have United Kingdom citizenship. The figure also ignores the valuable and disproportionately positive contribution that migrants make to the United Kingdom economy.

Secondary information