§ Mr. Corbynasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the total complement, by grade, of all United Kingdom and locally recruited staff at Her Majesty's high commission in Colombo.
§ Mr. RentonThe present complement of diplomatic service-funded United Kingdom-based and locally recruited staff at the United Kingdom high commission in Colombo is as follows:
- United Kingdom-based
- High commissioner
- One counselor
- One first secretary
- Three second secretaries
- Two attachés
- In addition there are five administrative and technical support staff.
- Locally engaged
There are two senior locally engaged staff. One is a commercial officer of equivalent rank to a higher executive officer and the other, who is employed in the administration section, has a rank equivalent to executive officer There are eighteen staff 221W employed on duties similar to that of clerical officers and secretaries. Forty other local staff are employed in an administrative capacity.As a consequence of the introduction of a visa requirement for Sri Lankan nationals, we have agreed to reinforce the complement in the following manner:
- (i) Two attachés, who arrived the weekend of 1 June, on temporary attachment for four months.
- (ii) One attaché on temporary attachment for three months arriving on 7 June.
- (iii) The addition of two attachés on a full-time basis from mid-July.
- (iv) The recruitment of two locally engaged staff at clerical officer level on a permanent basis.
- (v) One attaché presently absent from post is returning early from leave on 10 June. The temporary officer sent to Colombo to cover his leave will remain there until 23 June to provide further assistance.
There are in addition staff attached to the high commission in Colombo whose costs are met by other Government Departments.
§ Mr. Corbynasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many cases by month for the past two years the entry clearance officers in Colombo have dealt with.
§ Mr. RentonDetails are shown in the following table:
Entry clearances issued United Kingdom Entry clearances issued Hong Kong Entry Clearances refused United Kingdom Janary 171 9 7 February 183 17 7 March 340 16 20 April 173 19 14 May 376 6 13 June 356 18 16 July 216 21 8 August 250 10 6 September 272 23 14 October 212 52 18 November 171 15 33 December 192 15 33 1984 January 121 34 27 February 207 23 17 March 216 17 30 April 331 21 23 May 348 8 35 June 453 13 44 July 556 25 34 August 567 30 20 September 345 15 18 October 169 18 16 November 179 20 29 December 175 19 18 1985 January 189 26 30 February 173 22 13 March 270 43 12
§ Mr. Corbynasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what journeys have been made by United Kingdom diplomatic staff in Colombo to different parts of Sri Lanka to examine the problem of communal dissent.
§ Mr. RentonThe British high commissioner at Colombo and his United Kingdom-based staff travel frequently outside Colombo. This year they have visited Mannar in the north-west of the island, Trincomalee in the222W north-east, Polonnaruwa and the central highlands, and Batticaloa in the south-east. These visits have included contacts with representatives of all communities, including for example the citizens' committees of Mannar and Batticaloa.