Lord Ahmed – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Ahmed on 2016-04-27.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they keep statistics regarding how many British parliamentarians have visited (1) Sudan, (2) Syria, (3) Iran, and (4) Iraq, in the last five years; and if so, what assessment they have made of how many may be discouraged from visiting those countries in the future due to the implementation of HR158 under the Visa Waiver Programme Improvement and Terrorist Prevention Act 2015 by US authorities.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

Figures for the number of British parliamentarians who have visited (1) Sudan, (2) Syria, (3) Iran, and (4) Iraq, in the last five years are not held centrally, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. As Parliamentarians are not obliged to inform the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) of their travel commitments, any figures held by overseas posts may not be accurate. The FCO has not made any assessment of the impact of the implementation of HR158 under the Visa Waiver Programme Improvement and Terrorist Prevention Act 2015 by US authorities on travel by parliamentarians to these countries