asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what action he is taking to reduce the waiting times for interview of fiancés and dependants at the United Kingdom high commission in New Delhi and the United Kingdom embassy in Islamabad.

As indicated in the Government's reply to the all-party Select Committee on Race Relations and Immigration, wives and children are being given priority over other categories of applicant. We are concerned at the present waiting times, but so long as the volume of applications remains high it is not possible to reduce them significantly, given the present restrictions upon manpower.