asked the Secretary of State for Social Services when he expects to have figures available for increases in the immigrant and immigrant-descended population for 1981; and when he received such figures for 1980.

Estimates of the size of the population of New Commonwealth and Pakistani—NCWP—ethnic origin at mid-1981, comparable to those issued in previous years, will be published in early 1983, as soon as the information needed for their compilation is available. The corresponding mid-1980 estimates were published in a population monitor—OPCS series PP1 81/6 on 1 December 1981. Figures of births in the first half of 1981 have been delayed as a result of the industrial action by registrars of births and deaths in the dispute with local authorities, and this has led to the later production of the 1981 estimates.