To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many nurses from Sierra Leone have been granted visas to take up NHS posts in the UK (a) in 2001–02 and (b) 2002–03. [124606]

[holding answer 9 July 2003]: The visa section at the British High Commission in Freetown received no applications from Sierra Leoneans seeking to take up employment with the national health service in the United Kingdom in either 2001–02 or 2002–03.In the year 2002–03, one student nurse was issued with entry clearance out of a total of two applications received.