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22 Mar 2006 : Column 417W—continued

Ascension Island

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State forForeign and Commonwealth Affairs what his policy is on licensing commercial flights between St. Helena and Ascension Island if the former were to build an airport. [56563]

Mr. Douglas Alexander: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 15 March 2006, Official Report, columns 2377–78W.

Mr. Clifton-Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his policy is on granting licences for commercial ventures on Ascension Island. [56564]

Mr. Douglas Alexander: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 15 March 2006, Official Report, columns 2377–78W.

British Council

Mr. Leech: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions he has had with the British Council on plans to relocate jobs from Manchester to London. [60147]

Mr. Straw: The British Council has 15 offices around the United Kingdom. It regularly reviews the deployment of staff across these offices. The British Council is currently reviewing the use of its estate across the country with a view to making cost savings where possible. The review will report in June 2006. In parallel, the British Council is undertaking a programme designed to improve the
 
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efficiency and effectiveness of its UK-based operational teams. Again it expects to make decisions in June on any necessary staff changes. At present no decision has been made to relocate posts from any one centre to another.

The British Council is operationally independent and any decision on the location and size of its offices is for the British Council's management to make. However, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office remains in close touch with the British Council on this as on other operational matters.

Canada (Seal Hunting)

Mark Hunter: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with his Canadian counterparts on commercial seal hunting in Canada. [60244]

Ian Pearson: My right. hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has not yet discussed the Canadian seal hunt with his Canadian counterpart. However, during an introductory telephone call on 27 February 2006, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry raised the issue with the Canadian Minister of International Trade.

Cyprus

Mr. Amess: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he has made an estimate of the number of British tourists visiting (a) the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and (b) Cyprus. [59548]

Mr. Douglas Alexander: According to Republic of Cyprus estimates, there are 1.5 million visits by British citizens to Cyprus every year. We also understand that there are approximately 100,000 visits by British citizens to northern Cyprus every year.

Embassies/High Commissions (Security)

Mr. Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much was spent on the security of embassies and high commissions in each year since 2000. [58983]

Mr. Straw: The overall spend by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) on security and guarding services is as follows:
Amount (£)
2000–0113,989,479.56
2001–0216,714,417.76
2002–0318,747,067.12
2003–0434,394,158.70
2004–0577,287,392.84

The FCO can only identify how much of this expenditure was spent on the security of embassies and high commissions at a disproportionate cost. Expenditure on security-related machinery and equipment is not included in these totals, as the expenditure is reported along with non-security related items. The large increase in spending post 2002–03 is
 
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primarily due to the cost of keeping the FCO's presence in Iraq but also as a consequence of further measures following the bombing in Istanbul in November 2003.

Emigrants

Mr. Hollobone: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the number of UK citizens who have moved permanently abroad in each of the last 10 years; and in which countries they live. [60649]

Dr. Howells: We do not hold records of the number of UK citizens who move abroad permanently. However, we can provide an estimate of the number of British nationals living abroad in the last 10 years as shown in the following table:
Estimated size of the British community

Million
199613.3
199713.4
199813.3
199915.8
200015.5
2001–0212.9
2002–0312.8
2003–0413.2
2004–0513.1

These figures are taken from the consular annual returns from overseas posts. There is no requirement for UK citizens to register with British missions overseas and therefore these figures are provided by our overseas posts on the basis of the most reliable information they can obtain e.g. from host government official statistics. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office only holds a breakdown of the 2004–05 figure as follows:
Consular annual return 2004–05: estimated size of the British national community

Country (Total: 156)Estimated size of the British community
Afghanistan900
Albania194
Algeria800
Angola750
Antigua and Barbuda2,800
Argentina5,000
Armenia60
Australia2,066,000
Austria5,447
Azerbaijan2,800
Bahamas7,000
Bahrain7,000
Bangladesh3,900
Barbados2,200
Belarus25
Belgium55,000
Belize1,984
Bolivia270
Bosnia and Herzegovina400
Botswana5,500
Brazil6,192
Brunei3,000
Bulgaria800
Burma130
Cambodia1,000
Cameroon300
Canada2,400,000
Chile15,397
China (including Hong Kong)3,752,031
Colombia3,050
Costa Rica2,000
Croatia900
Cuba160
Cyprus60,000
Czech Republic3,000
Denmark13,000
Djibouti20
Dominican Republic600
East Timor50
Ecuador800
Egypt10,989
El Salvador
Eritrea
Estonia200
Ethiopia731
Fiji500
Finland2,643
France301,000
Gambia2,000
Georgia202
Germany132,872
Ghana3,500
Greece40,000
Grenada2,500
Guatemala1,200
Guinea
Guyana2,000
Haiti
Honduras
Hungary2,700
Iceland800
India31,800
Indonesia5,000
Iran2,100
Iraq2,000
Ireland103,476
Israel35,000
Italy50,500
Ivory Coast (Cote d'lvoire)
Jamaica4,500
Japan26,000
Jerusalem20,000
Jordan2,000
Kazakhstan3,500
Kenya20,000
Korea (North)11
Korea (South)3,000
Kuwait4,500
Laos
Latvia400
Lebanon14,774
Lesotho350
Libya3,500
Lithuania150
Luxembourg4,580
Macedonia145
Madagascar300
Malawi4,500
Malaysia6,000
Malta6,000
Mauritius1,560
Mexico14,450
Moldova75
Mongolia200
Morocco1,450
Mozambique900
Namibia1,750
Nepal800
Netherlands70,600
New Zealand450,000
Nicaragua
Nigeria5,548
Norway15,000
Oman6,500
Pakistan85,000
Panama220
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay1,000
Peru1,250
Philippines15,000
Poland8,400
Portugal24,204
Qatar6,000
Romania4,500
Russia5,895
Rwanda
Saudi Arabia19,000
Senegal200
Serbia and Montenegro300
Seychelles1,250
Sierra Leone1,000
Singapore17,000
Slovakia700
Slovenia400
Solomon Islands85
South Africa750,000
Spain677,000
Sri Lanka2,500
St. Lucia1,000
St. Vincent and the Grenadines700
Sudan473
Swaziland1,500
Sweden14,500
Switzerland28,700
Syria1,238
Tajikistan200
Tanzania6,870
Thailand35,700
Tonga100
Trinidad and Tobago5,000
Tunisia800
Turkey9,550
Turkmenistan70
Uganda2,483
Ukraine650
United Arab Emirates115,000
Uruguay900
USA1,380,200
Uzbekistan127
Vanuatu145
Venezuela2,000
Vietnam2,150
Yemen6,000
Zaire230
Zambia8,000
Zimbabwe13,000
Total13,115,406

 
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