To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will publish the guidance given to staff in UK overseas posts on handling immigration cases involving suspected forced marriage. (191183)

It would not be appropriate to publish detailed guidance on handling immigration cases involving suspected forced marriage, as it would serve the agenda of those perpetrating forced marriage, not help the victims. However I will gladly send copies of the current guidance to the hon. Member in confidence.

However, general guidance on Forced Marriage is treated in the Entry Clearance Guidance, which is accessible on the UKvisas website at:

www.ukvisas.gov.uk

Islamabad, which handles 75 per cent. of the recorded reluctant sponsor cases, has a dedicated ‘Consular-Immigration Link’ team to handle these cases, with their own internal guidelines.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many cases of suspected forced marriage were identified by British officials in each UK overseas post in immigration cases in each of the last five years. (191184)

The Forced Marriage Unit has been treating immigration cases separately to general consular assistance cases since 2006. Since 2006 we have handled the following numbers of forced-marriage-related immigration cases:

2006—92 cases (69 Pakistan, 12 India, 10 Bangladesh, 1 Sudan)

2007—95 cases (63 Pakistan, 15 Bangladesh, 11 India, 1 United Arab Emirates, 1 Albania, 2 Yemen, 1 Jordan, 1 Turkey)

2008—38 cases up to 29 February 2008 (36 Pakistan, 2 Bangladesh)

It is not possible to access statistics for cases handled prior to 2005.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what steps his Department takes to inform the Home Office when suspected cases of forced marriage in immigration cases are identified by British officials in overseas posts. (191185)

The Forced Marriage Unit is the central contact point for overseas posts that identify immigration cases involving forced marriage. The Forced Marriage Unit is a joint Home Office-Foreign and Commonwealth Office unit and is staffed by officials from both departments.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many people in immigration cases who had been identified by officials in UK overseas posts as taking part in activities surrounding potential forced marriage were reported to the authorities in the country concerned in each of the last five years. (191186)

The vast majority of forced marriage cases, dealt with by our overseas posts involve the victim wanting to extract themselves from the situation without risking further repercussions, either in the UK or in the country of their marriage. We would not report forced marriage incidents that come to our attention to local authorities as a matter of course as this could often place the victim, and parties sympathetic to the victim, at greater risk.