To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many work permits have been issued for (a) doctors and (b) nurses and auxiliary nurses from (i) Nigeria, (ii) Ghana and (iii) other African countries since 2005. (139543)

Table 1 shows the number of work permit applications which were approved for overseas nationals, in the period 1 January 2005 to 31 March 2007 from (a) Ghana, (b) Nigeria and (c) other African countries.

The list details countries that have been included in the category entitled “Other African Countries”.

There have been no approvals for African countries for auxiliary nurses.

The figures quoted are not provided under National Statistics protocols and have been derived from local management information and are therefore provisional and subject to change.

African Countries other than Nigeria and Ghana includes:

Algeria

Angola

Benin

Botswana

Burkina Faso

Burundi

Cameroon

Cape Verde

Central African Republic

Chad

Comoros

Congo

Djibouti

Egypt

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Ethiopia

Gabon

Gambia

Guinea

Guinea Bissau

Ivory Coast

Kenya

Lesotho

Liberia

Libya

Madagascar

Malawi

Mali

Mauritania

Mauritius

Morocco

Mozambique

Namibia

Niger

Reunion

Rwanda

Sao Tome & Principe

Senegal Seychelles

Sierra Leone

Somalia

South Africa

Sudan

Swaziland

Tanzania

Togo

Tunisia

Uganda

Zaire

Zimbabwe