§ Mr. GreenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what actions he proposes to take on the allocation of visas to child refugees from Albania. [61628]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienApplications for entry clearance have been received from Ms Sally Becker of Operation Angel for a total of 91 individuals, a third of which are in respect of children needing medical treatment. They have been referred to the Home Office from the British Embassy in Tirana.
The applications fell to be considered under the Immigration Rules relating to persons seeking to enter the United Kingdom as visitors for private medical treatment or simply as visitors. Under these Rules, we have to be satisfied, among other requirements, that there is satisfactory evidence about the medical condition and its treatment, that the person will be able to maintain and accommodate himself or herself and any dependants without recourse to public funds and that the person intends to leave the United Kingdom at the end of the period of the treatment or visit. In the absence of satisfactory evidence from Operation Angel or any other source, we were certainly not satisfied that these requirements were met in the applications.
We considered whether there were grounds for treating the application son a discretionary basis outside the Immigration Rules, but concluded that it would not be appropriate to do so. In reaching this decision, we took account of the fact that Ms Becker had not taken Government advice and guidance on how to bring such an evacuation within the recognised official procedures: she had not demonstrated the option of local treatment through the international agencies and had not made a proper case on medical grounds. We were also aware that my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development has in place a humanitarian strategy for former Yugoslavia (including Kosovo) and Albania. Furthermore, in the absence of adequate guarantees of funding from Operation Angel, we had to take account of the likely cost to the taxpayer in the almost certain event of recourse to public funds which, for a group of this size, would be of the order of £400,000 a year. We accordingly decided to refuse the applications. Ms Becker was notified of this decision by the British Embassy in Tirana on Friday 13 November.