§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth 829W Affairs to what extent he has departments and offices together with staffs employed wholly or mainly on matters connected with immigration; what are the numbers employed and total wages and salaries payable to them; to what extent these figures have changed over the past 10 years; and, now that immigration has been reduced to a trickle, what plans he has for reducing these offices, staffs and related expenses.
§ Mr. TomlinsonThe immigration sections of 23 overseas missions and subordinate posts together with the immigration section of the migration and visa department within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are engaged wholly or mainly on matters connected with immigration. Numbers employed are: 121 United Kingdom-based and 135 locally engaged staff at an estimated total cost of £2,226,300—based on average per head staffing costs.
Comparable figures over the past 10 years are not readily available and would take a disproportionate amount of time to extract.
Staffing levels in Foreign and Commonwealth Office departments and in all countries where we have diplomatic and consular representation, including those engaged on immigration work, are kept constantly under review to ensure that they are commensurate with the tasks which have to be performed.