To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate his Department has made of the number of (a) migrant workers and (b) school age children of migrant workers in (i) England, (ii) Wales, (iii) Scotland and (iv) Northern Ireland; and how many such children are registered in schools in (A) Wales, (B) England, (C) Scotland and (D) Northern Ireland, broken down by country of origin. (128690)

[holding answer 20 March 2007]: The Home Office has not made estimates of any of the figures requested.

Figures from the Labour Force Survey (LFS), conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), estimate that there were 3.075 million people who were born overseas in employment in the UK in April-June 2006. A breakdown on a comparable basis for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland is not available from ONS. As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.

Comparable estimates of the number of school age children of people who were born overseas and were in employment in the UK are not available.

Information on the number of children of migrant workers registered in schools is a matter for the various Education Ministers. They have informed me that this information is not collated centrally.