§ Lord AVEBURYasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they are satisfied with the position where the entry clearance officer in Bombay takes as much as nine months to provide a short statement of the reasons why he refused to grant an entry certificate, and what steps they are taking to improve the productivity of entry certificate officers.
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for FOREIGN and COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS (Lord Carrington)I recognise that, due to the large number of applications for entry clearance and the concentration on interviewing applicants, delays in the preparation of appeal statements have occurred at Bombay. An additional entry clearance officer is being assigned to the post to help remedy the situation.
House adjourned at twelve o'clock midnight.