Gateway Protection Programme

Mr. Hayes
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will break down by country of origin the number of refugees in the Gateway Protection Programme.

Mr. Byrne
The UK is committed to providing a safe haven for people escaping torture or persecution. To this end the Gateway Protection Programme was introduced in April 2003. So far a total of 617 refugees have been resettled to the UK.

Nationalities are chosen following consultation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. By country of origin, so far the programme has resettled principal applicants from the Democratic Republic of Congo (46), Burma (40), Liberia (36), Ethiopia (24) and the Sudan (15). They have been resettled to the UK with their dependant families numbering 158 Congolese (DRC), 88 Burmese, 83 Liberians, four Sierra Leoneans, 54 Ethiopians, one Somali and 68 Sudanese.