Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by the Secretary of State for the Home Department on 24 May (HCWS722), how many non-documented Commonwealth citizens, other than those from Caribbean nations, have been removed from the UK while claiming to have been settled here (1) on 1 January 1973, and (2) between 1973 and 1988.

The information requested is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The Home Secretary has committed to regularly updating the Home Affairs Select Committee on the Department's review of all removals and immigration detentions, dating back to 2002, of Caribbean nationals now aged over 45 (i.e. born before 1.1.73), to establish whether any could have entered the UK prior to 1973 and therefore might be protected by the Immigration Act 1971.

We want to take stock of the emerging findings of this initial work before going further.