§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions since 2 May 1997 each Minister in his Department personally received an inquiry from an hon. Member about an actual or prospective application for naturalisation; in how many such cases the inquiry was made by an hon. Member who was at that time a Minister of the Crown; in how many cases the inquiry was made on behalf of someone who was not a constituent of the hon. Member concerned; and if he will make a statement. [147768]
§ Mr. StrawThis information is not readily available and could be provided, if at all, only at disproportionate cost.
I and the Ministers in my Department receive a large number of representations, oral and written, from Members of both Houses of Parliament about a wide range of immigration matters: most of those, in respect of Members of the House of Commons, relate to constituents; some do not.
§ Mr. LidingtonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the backlog of undetermined applications for British citizenship is. [147630]
§ Mr. StrawAs at 31 December 2000, the number of applications for British citizenship (whether by registration or naturalisation) yet to be decided was 73,000; compared with 84,000 on the same date in 1999.