The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the authority to reply.
Letter from Colin Mowl, dated October 2008:
The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question asking how many non-UK nationals worked in London in each of the last 10 years. I am replying in her absence. (229381)
The estimates are derived from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). The requested information is provided in the attached table based on those people aged 16 and over in employment who reported that their place of work is within the government office region of London.
As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty. A guide to the quality of the estimates is provided in the attached table.
The estimates in the table are derived from the LFS microdata which are weighted using the official population estimates published in autumn 2007. They are not entirely consistent with the figures published in the monthly Labour Market Statistics First Release which are weighted using more up-to-date population estimates.
Thousand Non-UK nationals 1999 471 2000 523 2001 606 2002 624 2003 647 2004 687 2005 694 2006 765 2007 800 20082 875 1 Those people in employment who reported that their place of work is in the Government Office Region of London. 1 Coefficients of Variation have been calculated for the latest period as an indication of the quality of the estimates, as described as follows: Guide to Quality: The Coefficient of Variation (CV) indicates the quality of an estimate, the smaller the CV value the higher the quality. The true value is likely to lie within +/- twice the CV—for example, for an estimate of 200 with a CV of 5 per cent. we would expect the population total to be within the range 180-220. Key Coefficient of Variation (CV) (%) Statistical Robustness * 0 = CV < 5 Estimates are considered precise. ** 5 = CV < 10 Estimates are considered reasonably precise. *** 10 = CV < 20 Estimates are considered acceptable. **** CV 20 Estimates are considered too unreliable for practical purposes. Note: It should be noted that the aforementioned estimates exclude people in most types of communal establishment (e.g. hotels, boarding houses, hostels, mobile home sites etc.) Source: Labour Force Survey