HC Deb 03 June 1998 vol 313 cc243-4W
Mr. Gordon Marsden

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has to review the procedures whereby grant support to the Dependent Territories is administered. [43474]

Mr. Tony Lloyd

We are establishing a new Overseas Territories Department within the FCO which will provide a single focus and a direct point of contact for all our Overseas Territories. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for International Development also plans to establish an Overseas Territories Unit which will administer DFID assistance to Anguilla, the British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, the Turks and Caicos Islands and St. Helena. The Dependent Territories Regional Secretariat in Barbados will be closing later this year.

Mr. Gordon Marsden

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has received on support for the Turks and Caicos Islands to assist them in dealing with large-scale unauthorised immigration from Haiti; and what response he has made. [43424]

Mr. Tony Lloyd

Following representations from the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) Government, HMG contributed £200,000 towards a project managed by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) to regularise the immigration status of Haitians living in the TCI and to assist with the orderly repatriation of illegal immigrants. Under this project, which ended in April 1998 having achieved its objectives, 2,654 illegal migrants have been returned to Haiti since January 1997 and 973 others have had their immigration validated. Those returned to Haiti have been assisted with relocation expenses, skills training and small business grants. The TCI Department of Immigration has received assistance with training and a computerised migrant management system.

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