§ Mr. Geoffrey RobinsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what monitoring of overseas posts takes place by his Department to ensure that particular posts are not refusing abnormally large numbers of applicants for either visitors' visas or permanent settlement visas. [35658]
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§ Mr. HanleyStatistics on both settlement and non-settlement entry clearance applications are monitored closely by the migration and visa department. Refusal rates are included in these statistics, which are published annually in the "Command Paper on Immigration Statistics". Applicants refused entry clearance for settlement or other long-term categories have a right of appeal to the independent appellate authorities. Entry clearance refusals in categories which no longer have a right of appeal following passage of the Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act, 1993 are reviewed, in all cases, by entry clearance managers in posts. Additionally a scientifically random sample of those refusals is reviewed by Dame Elizabeth Anson, the independent monitor of entry clearance refusals, who will present her next report in November.