To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 18 February 2008, Official Report, column 175W, on Iraq: asylum, how many former locally-engaged Iraqi staff (a) have applied for (i) resettlement in the UK and (ii) independent leave to enter, (b) have moved to third countries in order to register for resettlement and (c) have been assessed as eligible but have not yet declared a preference. (189438)

We have received over 970 applications for assistance from Iraqi locally-engaged staff under the scheme I announced in written ministerial statements on 9 and 30 October 2007 respectively.

Almost 400 of those have been assessed as eligible for assistance under the scheme. 447 applications have not met the eligibility criteria. Of those assessed as eligible, over 130 applicants have chosen resettlement in the UK under the Gateway programme and ten have chosen indefinite leave to enter.

We have ten applicants who have already moved to third countries and would like resettlement in the UK under the Gateway programme.

76 staff have been assessed as eligible under the scheme but have yet to declare a preference of which type of assistance they would like.