Oral Answers to Questions Debate

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Department: Home Office

Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Foster of Bath Excerpts
Monday 12th December 2011

(13 years ago)

Commons Chamber
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Baroness May of Maidenhead Portrait Mrs May
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I thank the hon. Gentleman for raising that issue and I remind him and other hon. Members that the Chairman of the Home Affairs Committee asked Members of Parliament to write to the Home Office to say whether they had any cases of the sort that the hon. Gentleman mentions. The work that we have been doing is of course clearing up the chaotic mess in the asylum system that was left, sadly, by the last Government.

Lord Foster of Bath Portrait Mr Don Foster (Bath) (LD)
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With tourism vital to places such as Bath, it is worrying that the more and more people who travel abroad from countries such as India and China tend not to come to this country because they think that the UKBA is unwelcoming. Should we not at least have a special visa for 2012 to commemorate the Olympics and the diamond jubilee, and have the application forms in the language of the tourist rather than in English?

Baroness May of Maidenhead Portrait Mrs May
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I fully understand the benefits and importance of tourism to certain parts of the United Kingdom such as my right hon. Friend’s constituency. I assure him that special arrangements have been put in place by the UKBA for those who are travelling to be part of or to view the Olympics next summer.