I refer the hon. Gentleman to the answer given to him by the Parliamentary Secretary for the Cabinet Office, my hon. Friend the Member for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner (Mr Hurd), on 12 December 2012, Official Report, columns 378-80W.

No assessment of these figures has been undertaken.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Glen Watson, dated December 2012:

As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to respond to your Parliamentary Question to Her Majesty's Government, to ask the Minister of

the Cabinet Office how many people (a) have moved residence to Wales from Scotland, England and Northern Ireland and (b) have moved residence from Wales to Scotland, England and Northern Ireland in each of the last five years. [133522].

The tables show the estimated number of people who have moved residence to Wales from Scotland, England and Northern Ireland; and from Wales to Scotland, England and Northern Ireland for the years 2007-2011. This is the latest year for which internal migration data is available.

The estimates are produced using a combination of data from the National Health Service Central Register, Patient Register Data System and Higher Education Statistics Agency. A detailed description of the methodology used to create internal migration estimates is available at:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/guide-method/method-quality/specific/population-and-migration/estimating-internal-migration-customer-guidance-notes.pdf

The Secretary of State for the Home Office can confirm that financial contributions made by the UK Border Agency (UKBA) to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in financial year 2011-12 consist of the following:

A membership payment to IOM, half of which is paid for by the Department for International Development (DFID), the other half of which is paid by the UK Border Agency.

The amount calculated and invoiced is for calendar years, but the amount calculated due from both parties for the financial year 2011-12 was £1,941,190.34.

Payment to IOM for running the UKBA Assisted Voluntary Returns (AVR) programme in Afghanistan for 2011-12 amounted to £718,635.67. This represents a payment on account for services receivable during the period August 2011 to August 2012.

Payment to IOM for running a Facilitated Return Scheme (FRS) in 2011-12 amounted to £396,176.27. This represents a payment on account for services during the period April 2011 to March 2012.

An amount of £28,978.34 was also paid in financial year 2011-12 in relation to payments for moving refugees.

The Home Office is not undertaking any research into domestic violence among (a) migrant families and (b) families where one spouse is a migrant.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated September 2012:

As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to respond to your question concerning what level of reduction in UK net migration from 2010 to 2011 would have been regarded by the Office for National Statistics as statistically significant (121381).

On August 30, ONS published provisional estimates of Long Term International Migration (LTIM) for 2011. Estimates from the International Passenger Survey (IPS) are the main component used to calculate LTIM. As with all survey estimates, they carry a degree of uncertainty due to sampling variation. The uncertainty around the IPS based migration estimates was expressed as a confidence interval in this publication. A confidence interval provides an upper and lower limit in which we would expect the true value to lie with 95% probability.

These confidence intervals were published alongside inflow, outflow and net flow estimates. The change seen in the net migration estimates from 252,000 in 2010 to 216,000 (provisional) in 2011 was described as not statistically significant. This is because the confidence intervals for the IPS component for each estimate overlapped and the difference between the figures could have been due to sampling variation.

The 2011 provisional estimate for net migration would have needed to be below 180,000, for ONS to regard the change from 2010 as statistically significant. The upper limit of the confidence interval associated with an estimate below 180,000 is less than the lower limit of the 2010 estimate, so the confidence intervals do not overlap and the difference between the two estimates is considered to be statistically significant.

I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department for Education.

'Statutory arrangements are in place to identify children who are in need or at risk or who have special educational needs and their families. Should any families with such children have to move as the result of changes to housing allowances and the introduction of universal credit then schools and local authorities will have the duties to transfer information.

Schools are under a duty when a pupil changes school to transfer the pupil's educational records and the Common Transfer File, which includes information on a child's special educational needs. Where a child has a statement of special educational needs moves between authorities local authorities are under a duty to transfer the statement to the new authority and may also transfer any opinion they have received under the Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986 that the child is disabled. Upon transfer of the statement, the new authority becomes responsible for maintaining the statement and for providing the special educational provision specified in it.

No guidance has been specifically given to local authorities about children identified as in need or at risk as a result of families migration.

Statutory guidance, ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children’ and the ‘Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families’ provides clear guidance for professionals to follow when they suspect a child may be suffering or likely to suffer harm, or is in need. Local authorities have a statutory duty under the Children Act 1989 to promote the welfare of children and carry out an assessment if they suspect a child may be suffering harm.

This guidance is currently the subject of a national consultation. While professionals' basic responsibilities will not change, revised guidance aims to clarify these roles and responsibilities and to reduce bureaucracy, giving them more scope to focus firmly on the needs of the child.

Statutory arrangements are in place to identify children who are in need or at risk or who have special educational needs and their families. Should any families with such children have to move as the result of changes to housing allowances and the introduction of universal credit then schools and local authorities will have the duties to transfer information.

Schools are under a duty when a pupil changes school to transfer the pupil's educational records and the Common Transfer File, which includes information on a child's special educational needs. Where a child has a statement of special educational needs moves between authorities local authorities are under a duty to transfer the statement to the new authority and may also transfer any opinion they have received under the Disabled Persons (Services, Consultation and Representation) Act 1986 that the child is disabled. Upon transfer of the statement, the new authority becomes responsible for maintaining the statement and for providing the special educational provision specified in it.

No guidance has been specifically given to local authorities about children identified as in need or at risk as a result of families’ migration.

Statutory guidance, ‘Working Together to Safeguard Children and the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families’ provides clear guidance for professionals to follow when they suspect a child may be suffering or likely to suffer harm, or is in need. Local authorities have a statutory duty under the Children Act 1989 to promote the welfare of children and carry out an assessment if they suspect a child may be suffering harm.

This guidance is currently the subject of a national consultation. While professionals' basic responsibilities will not change, revised guidance aims to clarify these roles and responsibilities and to reduce bureaucracy, giving them more scope to focus firmly on the needs of the child.

On 15 March 2012 the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) published information on the reassessment of incapacity benefits claimants to employment and support allowance (ESA) on a national level for the first time. The report can be found at the following link:

http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/workingage/index.php?page=esa_ibr

A date for the next release is not yet available. As for all DWP Official Statistics, once a release date exists this is pre-announced on the UK Statistics Authority publication hub in accordance with Code of Practice for Official Statistics. This can be found at the following link:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/hub/index.html

The release date will also be announced on the DWP webpage at the first link above.

I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department for International Development.

We have had no reports of the Sudanese Government establishing camps in Sudan to temporarily accommodate South Sudanese. A recent report following a comprehensive interagency assessment has recorded 40,000 South Sudanese currently living in temporary settlements in Khartoum. The majority of these people are waiting to return to South Sudan. The UK is supporting the talks in Addis Ababa and urging both governments to reach an agreement on citizenship rights.

I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Department for International Development.

The British embassy in Juba receives regular reporting from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). So far, in 2012 roughly 113,000 South Sudanese have returned to South Sudan. Recent efforts to support this return include a barge movement, organised by humanitarian agencies, for around 2,700 people from Upper Nile State (where most returnees arrive in South Sudan) to Juba.

[holding answer 16 July 2012]: In assessing overall migration flows the Home Office uses figures derived from the Office for National Statistics International Passenger Survey. The basis for the definition of migrant in these figures is the internationally recognised UN definition of a migrant. This is also the definition used by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's definition (OECD ) in assessing the UK's net migration.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated July 2012:

As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to respond to your Parliamentary Question asking how migrants arriving or departing from London Victoria Coach Station are accounted for in the net migration statistics. (117380)

The main source from which ONS calculates net migration is the International Passenger Survey, which is a continuous voluntary sample survey. It samples passengers travelling via the principal air, sea and Channel Tunnel routes between the UK and countries outside the British Isles. Passengers arriving or departing from London Victoria Coach Station could be sampled in the IPS at the port at which they entered or left the UK. Therefore, these migrants are included in the UK net migration estimate but figures are not available separately for migrants travelling via London Victoria Coach Station.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated June 2012:

As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to respond to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for the Home Department, asking:

1. what information her department holds on the number of (a) people and (b) British citizens who travelled from the UK to the US in the most recent year for which figures are available.[114483]

2. what information her Department holds on the number of (a) people and (b) US nationals who travelled to the UK from the US in the most recent year for which figures are available. [114484]

I am able to report estimates derived from the International Passenger Survey. Estimates are published in two forms, firstly the number of overseas travel and tourism visits of less than 12 months in duration which are completed in the reporting year; secondly number of people migrating for 12 months or more (long term migration) during the reporting year. The most recent year for which both sets of estimates are available is 2010.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Stephen Penneck, dated June 2012:

As Director General for the Office for National Statistics (ONS), I have been asked to respond to your Parliamentary Question to the Secretary of State for the Home Department, asking:

1. what information her department holds on the number of (a) people and (b) British citizens who travelled from the UK to the US in the most recent year for which figures are available.[114483]

2. what information her Department holds on the number of (a) people and (b) US nationals who travelled to the UK from the US in the most recent year for which figures are available. [114484]

I am able to report estimates derived from the International Passenger Survey. Estimates are published in two forms, firstly the number of overseas travel and tourism visits of less than 12 months in duration which are completed in the reporting year; secondly number of people migrating for 12 months or more (long term migration) during the reporting year. The most recent year for which both sets of estimates are available is 2010.

County level data are not held in a format compatible with National Statistics protocols.

However, the UK Border Agency publishes statistics on a quarterly and annual basis that cover all asylum applications to the UK broken down by nationality. Published statistics regarding asylum applications can be found in the Library of the House and by following this link:

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/science-research-statistics/research-statistics/immigration-asylum-research/immigration-tabs-q4-2011/asylum1-q4-2011-tabs

Net migration on a national level is published on the Office of National Statistics website, and can be found at the following location:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/re-reference-tables.html?edition=tcm%3A77-256033

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.

Letter from Stephen Penneck:

As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking for an estimate of the level of net migration per annum which would be required to stabilise the population of the UK below 70 million (109561).

The most recent national population projections, based on the resident population at the middle of 2010, were published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on 26 October 2011. Under the principal assumption of long-term annual net migration of 200,000, the UK population is projected to surpass 70 million people by 2027. ONS have not carried out any analysis to determine what level of net migration would be required for the population to stabilise below 70 million over the projection period to 2110. However, ONS has produced a number of variant projections based on alternative assumptions of net migration. Under the assumption of long-term annual net migration of 100,000 or less, the UK population would not exceed 70 million by 2035.

The assumptions underlying national population projections are demographic trend based. They are not forecasts and do not attempt to predict the impact that factors such as future government policies or changing economic circumstances might have on the population. The projections also become increasingly uncertain the further they are carried forward in time.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.

Letter from Stephen Penneck, Director General for ONS, to Lord Laird, dated May 2012

As Director General for the Office for National Statistics, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question, To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Verma on 1 May (WA 459-60), what assessment they have made of the Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) conclusion that International Passenger Survey (IPS) figures are the most appropriate source for the calculation of migration figures, given the difference between the ONS Annual Population Survey figure of the increase in the Romanian-born population in the United Kingdom between 2007 and 2010, and the IPS figure used to calculate the Long-Term International Migration assessment of the number of Romanians migrating to the United Kingdom [HL311].

As detailed in PQ response HL1694, we have made an assessment of the different sources of data on international migration and published a report, available at the following link: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/migration1/population-by-country-of-birth-and-nationality/sources-of-international-migration-data/differences-between-sources-of-international-migration-data.pdf.

We concluded that the International Passenger Survey (IPS) is currently the most appropriate source for the calculation of long-term international migration based on the UN definition of a long-term migrant, which states that a long-term migrant is a person who changes his or her country of usual residence for a period of at least a year.

We have looked at the Annual Population Survey (APS), but concluded that it is not an appropriate measure of long-term migration flows as it measures “stocks” of migrants and does not differentiate between long and short-term migrants.