To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 25 April 2007, Official Report, column 1175W, on Iraq, how many requests for resettlement assistance have been received from Iraqi citizens working for the British army deployed in Southern Iraq; in which countries these requests have been received; and how many have been (a) accepted and (b) rejected. (136491)

I have been asked to reply.

In the same manner as most other international resettlement countries the UK does not operate a bespoke resettlement programme through which an individual can apply directly to a UK overseas post. Therefore the statistics requested are not available.

In order to qualify for resettlement the established recognised international process is that an individual seeking protection must first register with the UNHCR who will initially decide whether it is appropriate to afford Mandate Refugee status. If they are given Mandate Refugee status the UNHCR will, in due course, decide which durable solution is appropriate. A very small minority of refugees only are referred by the UNHCR for resettlement and it is their decision as to which of the most vulnerable cases should take priority. Under these referral arrangements the UK currently accepts around 500 people for resettlement per year.