April 22, 2008
Can Tesco help the government count how many migrants are in the UK?
Hazel Blears, communities secretaries, told a Commons committee this morning that the quality of data on the UK’s migrant population was not as good as it could be.
“We are working with the LGA (Local Government Association) to get better data,” she said.
This could include sharing information from Tesco, other supermarkets, about people who used its stores. “I welcome that kind of information if it can help us get amore accurate view at a local level of what the impact is,” she said.
Apparently this is not quite as Big Brother as it sounds. The Tesco information merely records how footfall has grown at established stores - rather than a breakdown of its customers.
The LGA is also looking at using GP registrations, schools census data and National Insurance numbers to improve population estimates.
A spokesperson for Ms Blears said afterwards that such information was worth considering - but only if it was “robust and sensible”.
