FOI - Portuguese residents and Councillors [Dec 2024]

Request: 

Please could you provide me with:

1. The number of Portuguese people in your authority area, categorised by:

• Nationality

• Country of birth

• Language spoken (if available)

• Descent (if available)

2. Educational attainment rates for Portuguese people in your authority area, if such data is collected and available.

3. Details of any councillors of Portuguese nationality, country of birth, or descent who are currently serving or have served in your authority in the past five years.

Please provide the information in the form of an electronic spreadsheet or other similar document format.

Our responses are as follows:

1

Official statistics on populations by countries of origin are available from the 2021 England and Wales Census including on country of birth, and main language. Note that census will not record all persons who can speak Portuguese, as bilingual residents may state their main language as English. Nationality was not collected in the census, but passports held by residents is available. Our reports on each of these topics including data for Greater London and for the London boroughs individually are published on our Census reports page.

The Office for National Statistics’ Annual Population Survey (APS) collects respondents’ nationality and country of birth. Up to 2021 APS-based estimates of these were produced for the UK countries and English regions, although figures for individual nationalities can be erratic so must be used with caution. After 2021, publication of APS-based estimates was suspended due to concerns over the quality of these data. The available data for London are published on the GLA datastore for both country of birth and nationality. The attached workbook provides the available census and APS data for London.

2

The number of people of Portuguese descent living in London is not available - the GLA does not hold information in scope of this part of your request.

3

The GLA is London's strategic government and does not operate in the same way as local councils. We therefore do not hold information about Councillors.

Advice / assistance:

In London may wish to review the websites of the Borough Councils, including the City of London and Westminster City Council as you may find some biographical information on their pages which list local Councillors: https://directory.londoncouncils.gov.uk.  It is also possible that you might find this kind of information in the public domain if Councillors have chosen to make it public themselves e.g., on their social media accounts.

Advice / assistance:

If you are interested in the Mayor of London and the London Assembly Members, you can find information about them on our website at

https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-mayor-does/mayor-and-his-team/sadiq-khan

https://www.london.gov.uk/who-we-are/what-london-assembly-does/london-assembly-members

With regard to any information about a candidate’s or a London Assembly Member’s background or nationality, this is classified as personal data that is exempt from disclosure under Section 40(2) of the FOI Act, please refer to our previous FOI response on this matter.