Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the effect of the 2003 Memorandum of Understanding between Cyprus and the UK on implementation of the Protocol on the Sovereign Base of Akrotiri and Dhekelia in Cyprus in so far as it concerns illegal migrants and asylum seekers on where responsibility for refugees who enter those bases rests.

No assessments have been made.

Under the 2003 Memorandum of Understanding, Republic of Cyprus asylum officials assess asylum claims of migrants arriving directly into the Sovereign Base Areas. If they are granted asylum, they will have the same rights as those granted refugee status in the Republic of Cyprus. These collaborative arrangements between the UK and the Republic of Cyprus on the handling and processing of the migrants are being applied to those who arrived in the Sovereign Base Areas in October 2015 and the process is working well.