§ Ms Oona KingTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how long a person applying for entry clearance for settlement in(a) February, (b) March, (c) April, (d) May and (e) June can be expected to have to wait for an interview in each queue at each post in the Indian sub-continent; and what estimate he has made of the numbers of additional staff required in (i) Dhaka, (ii) Islamabad and (iii) New Delhi to bring waiting times down to the levels maintained at the British post in Colombo. [133845]
§ Mr. VazThe statistics for 2000 are as follows:
Waiting times in weeks on the last day of the month in 2000 Post/Queue February March April May June Bombay Q1 0 0 0 0 0 Q2 6 6 6 6 6 Q3 6 6 6 6 6 Q4 6 6 6 6 6 Calcutta1 0 0 0 2.9 0 Madras1 11 8 5 9 8 New Delhi Q1 0 0 0 0 0 Q2 8 8 8 10 12 Q3 8 8 8 10 12 Q4 8 8 8 10 12 Colombo1 8 9 7 11 10 Dhaka Q1 16 16 16 16 16 Q2 28 28 28 28 28 Q3 16 16 16 16 16 Q4 56 56 44 44 44 Islamabad Q1 8.5 9 10 6 5 Q2 30 26.5 26 23 20.5 Q3 41 35.5 33.5 33 29 Q4 46.5 42 40 39 36 Karachi1 9 9 7 5 3 1Calcutta, Colombo, Karachi and Madras operate a single settlement queue Notes:
Queue 1—Right of abode cases and Dependant Relatives over 65;
Queue 2—Spouses and Children under 18;
Queue 3—Fiance(e)s and Other First Time Applicants;
Queue 4—Re-applicants.
To determine the numbers of staff required in Dhaka, Islamabad and New Delhi to bring waiting times to the level in Colombo would require further operational reviews to be carried out at each post. Additional permanent staff have already been provided for Islamabad and Dhaka. Further increases are proposed for those posts and for New Delhi. All posts benefit from additional temporary staff during the busy summer season. These actions have brought queues 1, 2 and 4 in Islamabad to within agreed target times.