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Written question asked by Lord Rosser (Labour) on Wednesday, 7 February 2024, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 21 February 2024. It was answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom (Conservative) on Wednesday, 21 February 2024 on behalf of the Home Office.


Undocumented Migrants

Question

To ask His Majesty's Government what is their estimate of the current number of individuals who are in the United Kingdom illegally.

Answer

By its very nature, it is not possible to know the exact size of the illegal population, or the number of people who arrive illegally, and so we do not seek to make any official estimates of the illegal population. In June 2019, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published a note on ‘measuring illegal migration’.

The Home Office does publish statistics on irregular arrivals to the UK as part of the ‘Irregular migration to the UK’ quarterly statistics release on gov.uk. However, this does not indicate the number of irregular migrants currently in the UK.


Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL2307
Session
2023-24
Subjects
Undocumented migrants
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk