Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people from Commonwealth countries who entered the UK in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12, (c) 2012-13, (d) 2013-14 and (e) 2014-15 remained for more than a year without permission and remain in the UK.

It is not possible accurately to quantify the number of immigration offenders in the UK accurately as, by their very nature, those that deliberately evade immigration control to enter and stay in the country illegally are not officially recorded until they come to light and are arrested.

Exit Checks were introduced on 8 April 2015 on all scheduled commercial international air, sea and rail routes. Over time, these checks will improve our ability to identify individuals who have overstayed.