Council leaders have welcomed the House of Lords economics affairs committee call for improved statistics to assess the impact of immigration on funding local services. The Lords report says: ‘There is a clear and urgent need to improve the data and information about gross and net migration flows to and from the UK, and about the size, geographical distribution and characteristics of the immigrant stock.' It criticises the lack of accurate data on the impact on public services and stresses. ‘Much more work needs to be done by both central and local government to assess whether and how much extra funding for local services is needed because of increased immigration,' it says. Sir Simon Milton, chairman of the Local Government Association, said: ‘The speed and scale of migration combined with the shortcomings of official population figures is placing pressure on funding for services such as housing and children's services. ‘Official statistics on how many migrants are coming or where they are going are inadequate. No-one has a real grasp of where or for how long migrants are settling, so much-needed funding for local services isn't getting to the right places.'
