§ Mr. BeithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff at the Immigration and Nationality Directorate have been assigned to work on the evacuation of refugees from Kosovo to the United Kingdom. [83803]
§ Mr. Mike O'BrienA unit has been set up within the Immigration and Nationality Directorate to facilitate the entry of persons coming to the United Kingdom under the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) humanitarian evacuation programme and to expedite the processing of asylum applications from nationals of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. At present, some 24 people are directly involved, with support from others when necessary. Immigration Service staff are also involved at the point when the evacuees arrive at United Kingdom airports.
229WArrangements have been made to assist the UNHCR in its task of processing applications from Kosovars in the camps to come to the United Kingdom under the Humanitarian Evacuation Programme. The first team under the leadership of Richard Tilt, the recently retired Director General of the Prison Service, flew out to Macedonia on 9 May and further teams will be going out on a rolling basis.