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Passengers: Surveys

Volume 471: debated on Thursday 31 January 2008

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer (1) at which points of entry interviews are conducted as part of the international passenger survey; (178678)

(2) what percentage of inbound (a) flights, (b) ferries, (c) coaches and (d) trains arrived at points of entry where the international passenger survey is conducted in the latest period for which figures are available.

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.

Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 31 January 2008:

As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Questions asking what percentage of inbound (a) flights, (b) ferries, (c) coaches and (d) trains arrived at points of entry where the international passenger survey is conducted in the latest period for which figures are available (178681), and at which points of entry interviews are conducted (178678).

The International Passenger Survey (IPS) does not have information relating to the number of inbound flights, ferries, coaches or trains sampled as a proportion of all arrivals. However, the number of passengers passing through ports of entry as a proportion of the total number of passengers by each mode of transport is shown below. It should be noted that coaches are identified via the route they arrive in the UK, either by ferry or by Eurotunnel.

Number of international passengers arriving at ports in the UK by mode of transport, 2006

Total passengers through all ports (thousand)

Total passengers through IPS sampled sites (thousand)

Proportion through IPS sampled sites (percentage)

Airports

86,390

82,823

96

Seaports

11,741

10,091

86

Channel tunnel

Eurostar

3,621

3,621

100

Eurotunnel

1,778

1,778

100

Source:

CAA, Department for Transport, Eurotunnel, Eurostar

The IPS is carried out at the following points of entry:

Airports

London Heathrow;

Gatwick;

Stansted;

Manchester;

Edinburgh;

Glasgow;

Prestwick;

Newcastle;

Liverpool;

Leeds/Bradford;

East Midlands;

Birmingham;

Luton;

Bristol;

Cardiff;

London City.

Sea routes

Dover-Calais;

Dover-Dunkirk;

Portsmouth-Caen;

Portsmouth-St Malo;

Portsmouth-Cherbourg;

Portsmouth-Le Havre;

Poole-Cherbourg;

Plymouth-Santander;

Plymouth-Roscoff;

Harwich-Hook of Holland;

Harwich-Esbjerg;

Newcastle-Stavanger/Haugesund/Bergen;

Newcastle-Amsterdam;

Hull-Rotterdam;

Hull-Zeebrugge;

Pembroke-Rosslare

Fishguard-Rosslare;

Holyhead-Dublin;

Holyhead-Dun Laoghaire;

Rosyth-Zeebrugge;

Southampton-New York QM2.

Rail

Waterloo (up to November 2007);

St Pancras (from November 2007);

Ashford;

Ebbsfleet (from November 2007);

Cheriton-Coquelles.

In addition, from April 2008 interviewing will be introduced at Southampton, Bournemouth and Doncaster airports.