28/07/2013 BBC Weekend News

The way the UK's migration statistics are gathered is not fit

for purpose, according to a group of MPs. The Public Administration

Select Committee said the figures were based on too small a sample and

were little better than guesswork. The Home Office said it disagreed

with the report's conclusions. Tom Barton has more.

Knowing how many people are coming to live in Britain and are moving

abroad is important if officials are going to make informed decisions. It

is also important politically. Immigration is one of the issues

many people say they care most about. But today a report from the

Public Administration Select Committee says the immigration

statistics just aren't reliable enough. In the 12 months to June of

last year, the government estimates that 515,000 British, EU and non-EU

nationals entered the country. 352,000 any great it. That would put

the net migration figure at 163,000. But because both figures are

estimates, the number could be 35,000 higher or lower. Bearing in

mind the political priority in which the public place on this, we need

robust data to be collected. We need the home of this information to be

compared with the Office for National Statistics and EU borders.

That is not being done. The Home Office says it rejects the

conclusions of the report, saying the government 's immigration

reforms are working and that net migration is at its close level for

a decade. But the Lib Dem Business Secretary thinks focusing on net

migration is a red herring. This idea that you are pursuing a net

immigration figure is misleading. Among other things, the largest

number of people counted as immigrants are students, who are not

immigrants, they are visitors. Coalition row is also bring over

this code -- poster campaign. The Lib Dems have called it this

tasteful and divisive. The Home Office says it simply offers support

to people who want to help leaving Britain.

In Egypt, supporters of ousted president Mohammed Morsi have defied

threats of removal from their sit-in protest in Cairo despite clashes

with security forces on Saturday which left at least 72 people dead.

But, as Jim Muir reports from Cairo, the interior minister has warned

them they will soon be dispersed. It is still there. Many thousands of

Morsi loyalists, some of them still with their families, camping around

the clock, keeping up their demand for his reinstatement. There's a lot

of anger here about the killings. It's a convict massacre. We are

peaceful. Yesterday there was a massacre during 2am. These people

are peaceful. At the core of the protest is the

Muslim Brotherhood, the movement to which Mohamed Morsi belongs. It is

an influential party that goes back more than 85 years. It is TPM bedded

in Egyptian society. -- DPM bedded. It can get hundreds of thousands of

supporters on the streets. It did that on Friday, to show that it

should have mass support. That was to counter a huge rally called by

the commander of the Army, no defence minister. He wanted a

display of public backing for what he calls his drive against

terrorism. There were fears it could herald a crackdown on the Muslim

Brotherhood. But the deadly violence at the

mosque yesterday did not turn out to be the serious effort to overrun the

area taken over by manic Morsi 's followers. That may still be to

come. -- Mohamed Morsi 's followers. With international and domestic

concern at the carnage of mounting, the interim government here will

think twice about launching a concerted attack.

British soldiers have been sent on a secret mission to help the Afghan

army clear Taliban militants from an area of Sangin Province in southern

Afghanistan. The Ministry of Defence says about 80 members of fourth

Battalion, the Rifles, were sent to the region earlier this month. All

returned safely to their base at Camp Bastion.

The Home Secretary has revealed that she's been diagnosed with Type one

diabetes. Theresa May told the Mail on Sunday that she has to treat the

condition by injecting herself twice a day with insulin. She said that

the diagnosis two months ago had come as a shock, but hadn't affected

the way she did her job. And Pope Francis has urged pilgrims

to work hard as athletes for Christ. Speaking to crowds of up to three

million people during a vigil on Copacabana beach, in the Brazilian

city of Rio de Janeiro, he called on young people to help rebuild the

Roman Catholic Church, which has lost millions of followers in Latin

America. That's it from me. There'll be more

from the newsroom at 6.35 on BBC Good afternoon. If there were any

doubt that our long dry spell had come to an end, most of those doubts

have been washed away. Many places saw a lot of rain overnight. There

will be some further heavy downpours this afternoon. But some sunshine as

well. A big area of low pressure is in charge of the scene. To the west,

it is this area that has been working north across the country and

bringing the rain. It is going to keep raining in the north-east of

Scotland for the rest of this afternoon. Some strong winds as

well. Drying up for southern areas of Scotland. For everywhere else,

yes, there will be some spells of sunshine, but also some showers.

Some of them are heavy as well. There could be some mumbles of

thunder. Temperatures are perhaps up to 24 or 25 degrees. Tonight, the

rain in the North will get its act together and clear away to the

North. There will be some clear spells. A fair few showers, though,

rattling on behind. Temperatures between 13 and 17 degrees. Tomorrow

is a day of sunshine and showers. Low pressure is still in charge.

This is the weather front coming in from the west, which will enhance

the showers. Some of them will be quite heavy. There will be some

sunshine in between. This is how the day pans out. You can see a rash of

showers across the country. Where we get the showers, they could be

heavy. A fairly breezy day, and a bit cooler than of late as well. The

week ahead brings plenty of different types of weather, really.

Some rain at times, also some sunshine and a chance that was the

end of the week things might turn warmer, even hot perhaps a cross

parts of the South. Tuesday start with high pressure, making things

try first of all. Then a weather front moves in from the south. That

will bring some rain, some of it heavy. Sharp showers to the north.

In between, a zone of largely dry weather. The meandering weather

front continues to work its way through as we head on into the

middle part of the week. On Wednesday, a belt of rain moves

north. It is likely to fizzle away as it goes. It could turn quite

humid by this stage across the South. This meandering front

continues its progress north as we head into Thursday, taking the rain

north with it. It is a warm front, and behind it some warm air that is

going to try to come in across the country. Moving in from the

continent, it could live temperatures in the south east into

the low 30s as we go into Thursday. Hot sunshine here. Further west and

north, where we had the weather front, there will be some rain, some

of it heavy. There is confirmation of the temperatures. We head into

Friday still with low pressure in charge, but a chance that we could

see an area of thundery downpours pushing somewhere across England.