The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.

The Rt Hon. the Lord Wigley

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

11 July 2023

Dear Lord Wigley,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking for an estimate of how many UK citizens emigrated in each of the last five years for which figures are available (HL9085).

The figures for British nationals emigrating out of the UK for the last five years are shown in Table 1 which is sourced from Figure 2 of our Long-term international migration, provisional: year ending December 2022 bulletin [1] which was released in May.

Table 1: Number of British nationals emigrating out of the UK, between 2018 and 2022

Source: Office for National Statistics

Please note that these are currently our best estimates but are subject to change. This is because in September 2023 we will be updating our migration estimates across the previous decade as part of rebased population estimates to align with Census 2021. For more information, please see our Provisional plans for publishing the latest population and migration estimates [2].

When accessing any of our files you may find it useful to read the 'notes, terms and conditions' contained within them.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

[1] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/bulletins/longterminternationalmigrationprovisional/yearendingdecember2022#emigration-out-of-theuk

[2] https://www.ons.gov.uk/news/statementsandletters/provisionalplansforpublishingthelatestpopulationandmigrationestimates

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

Please see the letter attached from the National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.

The Rt Hon. the Viscount Thurso

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

05 June 2023

Dear Lord Thurso,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking whether the latest net migration figures include UK citizens who have moved abroad for study or work and then returned; and what is the current estimate of those numbers (HL8171).

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publish estimates for British nationals migrating from and to the UK for a period of 12 months or more.

On 25 May the ONS published its latest long-term international migration estimates [1]. Experimental and provisional estimates for the long-term migration of British nationals in 2022 are provided in Table 1.

The immigration estimate includes all British nationals who came into the UK in 2022 and stayed (or intended to stay) for 12 months or longer. The emigration estimate includes all British nationals who left the UK in 2022 and were out (or intended to be out) of the UK for 12 months or longer. Both estimates will include some returning migrants but exclude any whose time abroad or back in the UK was for less than 12 months.

The ONS is unable to quantify net migration by their reason for migration or whether they are returning migrants. This is because the International Passenger Survey (IPS), does not track an individual person’s journeys, only that the person interviewed has exited or entered the country and their reason along with demographic data. The ONS derive estimates from these data. Peoples’ identities are not tracked, so if a person had moved abroad for work or study, the ONS can not say if that same person has returned or not.

The ONS does not produce net migration by the reason for migration due to the lack of data available to monitor a person's specific migrant journey, in particular students who are typically more fluid in their behaviour. Migrants may change their reason for migration between immigration and emigration, making any net migration estimates by reason an over or under estimation of population change. Research is ongoing into this subject, but there are currently no intentions to include net migration by reason in future publications for these reasons.

The ONS is asking for feedback from users, to support the forthcoming consultation on population and migration statistics that is being launched in late June 2023. We would welcome any feedback from yourself in regards to this subject and how population and migration statistics could be improved.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

[1] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/bulletins/longterminternationalmigrationprovisional/yearendingdecember2022#population-change

Table 1, Long-term international migration estimates for British nationals, year ending December 2022, UK [2], [3]

Source: Office for National Statistics

[2] British nationals figures are based on the International Passenger Survey (IPS).

[3] Because of the experimental and provisional nature of these statistics, numbers have been rounded to the nearest thousand.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon. Member's Parliamentary Question of 29 November is attached.

Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician

The Lord Leong CBE

House of Lords

London

SW1A0PW

08 December 2022

Dear Lord Leong,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Question asking why international students have been included in our net migration figures (HL3844).

Statistics on long-term international migration produced by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) are estimated in accordance with international standards. The United Nations definition of a long-term migrant is: “A person who moves to a country other than that of his or her usual residence for a period of at least a year (12 months), so that the country of destination effectively becomes his or her new country of usual residence[1] .” International students will typically live in the UK for more than a year, and so meet the definition of a long-term migrant.

However, we recognise this definition is narrow and doesn’t always meet user needs. We have plans to explore alternative definitions, including estimating net migration by reason, such as study[2] . This will help provide more context to headline measures of migration, addressing recent findings from the ONS research that most international students will leave the UK after their studies are concluded.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

[1] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/ methodologies/longterminternationalmigrationestimatesmethodology#:~:text=Definition%20of%20a%20l ongterm%20migrant&text=%E2%80%9CA%20person%20who%20moves%20to,new%20country%20of%20 usual%20residence.%E2%80%9D

[2] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/ articles/internationalmigrationstatisticaldesignprogressreport/july2022#how-we-are-transformingmigration-statistics

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

A response to the Hon. Member's Parliamentary Question: HL3965 and HL3966 are attached.

Professor Sir Ian Diamond | National Statistician

Lord Green of Deddington

House of Lords

London

SW1A 0PW

12 December 2022

Dear Lord Green,

As National Statistician and Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority, I am responding to your Parliamentary Questions asking how many arrivals by (1) Ukrainians and their dependants, (2) Hong Kong BNOs and their dependants, and (3) Afghan citizens and their dependants, are included in the latest Office for National Statistics net migration figures, published on 24 November; and when the International Passenger Survey (IPS) stopped being used as a significant element in calculating net migration; and what has taken its place (HL3965;HL3966).

In the Office for National Statistics (ONS) bulletin published on 24 November, Section 4, Migration Events[1] details the following published Home Office data included in the ONS’ total long-term international migration estimates:

Ukrainians: around 89,000 arrived in the UK in the year to June 2022

Afghans: around 21,000 arrived in the UK in the year to June 2022

For British nationals overseas (BN(O)) status holders and their families from Hong Kong, colleagues from the ONS and the Home Office are working together to resolve how we identify those that are long-term international migrants in the data. Home Office statistics show that around 76,000 visas were issued for the BN(O) route in the year ending June 2022. This will represent the upper bound for arrivals, as not all of those with a visa will arrive in the UK or stay long term. The ONS is also working to identify BN(O) status holders in their International Passenger Survey (IPS) data using country of birth and country of last residences as this may help provide a more robust estimate. Current analysis suggests that 28,000 British nationals with a country of birth of Hong Kong immigrated into the UK in the year ending June 2022.

The long-term international migration data from the IPS was the largest component of the LongTerm International Migration (LTIM) estimates until its suspension in March 2020 because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In August 2020 the ONS announced that they would not return to producing official migration statistics from the IPS because it had been stretched beyond its original purpose. The ONS now focuses on measuring actual migration, as opposed to intentions, using primarily administrative data (admin-based migration estimates (ABMEs)). The ONS’ International migration statistical design progress report: July 2022 provides more information.[2]

For the latest long-term international migration estimates; non-EU figures are based on Home Office Border Systems data, EU figures are based on Registration and Population Interaction Database (RAPID) data received from Department for Work and Pensions and HM Revenue and Customs, and British Nationals figures are based on the International Passenger Survey (IPS). See the Measuring the data section[3] for more detail. Thank you for your continued interest in our international migration estimates.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Sir Ian Diamond

[1] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/ bulletins/longterminternationalmigrationprovisional/yearendingjune2022#migration-events

[2] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/ articles/internationalmigrationstatisticaldesignprogressreport/july2022

[3] https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/internationalmigration/ bulletins/longterminternationalmigrationprovisional/yearendingjune2022#measuring-the-data