The Home Office said it was considering the advice from the OSR and would publish its plans “in due course”, but would continue to publish daily data “in the immediate term”.
Tory MPs warned that any attempt to ditch daily figures would be a mistake. One said: “It just looks like covering up, and no doubt journalists will come up with their own figures based on people arriving at Tughaven [the migrant processing centre in Dover] and Freedom of Information requests.”
Natalie Elphicke, the Tory MP for Dover, said: “This is not a statistical exercise – this is a serious crisis where people are exploited by criminal gangs on a daily basis and lives are tragically lost. Daily figures are vital so the progress in tackling this crisis can be properly monitored.”
A third MP said: “It seems more like burying bad news than being transparent about crossings.”
‘Pushing a boulder uphill’
The OSR wrote to the Home Office last year to say the daily data did not meet its expectations and transparency standards for government statistics, which needed to be “accessible with appropriate explanations of context and sources”.
But an OSR spokesman said: “The decision to release this on a quarterly basis, rather than more frequently, is a decision that has been made by the department.”
The spokesman said the organisation understood the department’s view that quarterly publication would ensure the statistics were “put into the longer term and wider immigration and asylum context and so better support the public debate and understanding”.
“We have urged the department to take account of user need for a more frequent publication, which would include information on the strengths and limitations of these statistics and how this impacts use,” the spokesman added.
A senior source said: “The Home Office just feels like they’re pushing a boulder uphill in terms of people phoning up demanding to know how many have arrived in a day. Are some of the more political types saying it [daily data] is a rod for our backs? Yes. They would like it to go away.”
Earlier this week, the Government announced that the military is to be put in charge of stemming the surge in migrants crossing the Channel, although precise details of its role have yet to be revealed.
James Heappey, the defence minister, said the Navy was more likely to play a command and control role rather than “interception and interdiction” of people in small boats. Tory MPs have, however, warned that the Navy will become a “taxi service” for migrants.
