British Hospitality Association (BHA) chief executive Bob Cotton has cast doubt on new Home Office statistics which suggest that the hospitality sector is no longer the largest employer of Eastern European migrant workers.

According to the figures (to March 2007), 20 per cent of all Eastern European workers in the UK are employed in hospitality, but 37 per cent now work in the administration, business and management sector.

Bob Cotton questioned the accuracy of the figures, saying there had not been a slowdown in people coming in to work in hospitality.

"While this may be an indication of other sectors catching on to how good Eastern European workers are, hospitality is still the first point of entry for migrants and therefore likely to employ more than any other sector," he said.

Statistics on the number of workers coming to the UK from the latest additions to the EU – Bulgaria and Romania – revealed that 65 people from the two countries have been employed in the hospitality sector since January.

Hospitality employed 15 per cent of the total workers from the two countries, which have restricted immigration rights, with more than two-thirds of them being employed as chefs.

By far the biggest number migrant workers employed in hospitality are Poles (64 per cent), followed by Slovakians (12 per cent) and Lithuanians (8 per cent).