Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sugg on 5 August (HL7139), why they do not publish the results of their assessments of how many people they expect to take up the bespoke immigration route for British Nationals (Overseas) and their dependants; and what the result of their most recent assessment was.

Our offer to British Nationals (Overseas), (BN(O)s), is not about the numbers. The Government has taken decisive action to uphold our commitments to the people of Hong Kong. As previously stated, this scheme is for eligible BN(O) status holders and their immediate family dependants. We estimate that there are up to 2.9 million BN(O) status holders. In reality, a large number of those who are eligible will want to stay in Hong Kong or relocate to other countries in the region.