§ Mr. Jannerasked the Prime Minister what assessment Her Majesty's Government have made of the relative cost of sending entry clearance officers to India as opposed to stationing extra staff at Heathrow.
§ The Prime MinisterThe decision to impose a visa requirement on the citizens of Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Pakistan and Nigeria took account of the relative staff costs in this country and abroad. Account was also taken of the fact that modern airports are not the place for making detailed examination of large numbers of difficult cases. The need to strengthen pre-entry control meant, therefore, that more immigration officers at the ports would not have been a sensible response to the problems which had arisen.