Written question asked by David Davis (Conservative) on Monday, 19 May 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 21 May 2008. It was answered by Lord Hutton of Furness (Labour) on Monday, 2 June 2008 on behalf of the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform.

Foreign Workers: Poland

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform what the evidential basis was for the information he gave in his interview on the BBC on Sunday 6th April 2008 on the proportion of Polish migrant workers who have now returned to Poland.

Answer: A paper by the Bank of England published in January 2007 ““The Impact of the Recent Migration from Eastern Europe on the UK Economy”” indicated that sources suggested that a"““significant proportion—perhaps as many as a half—have returned to their country of origin.””"Earlier this year the Centre for International Relations, a Warsaw based think tank, also suggested that half of the estimated 1 million UK based Poles are expected to return home.

Secondary information