To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the time required to process and determine all applications under the Locally Employed Staff Assistance Scheme.

Staff across Government are working assiduously to ensure applications are processed and eligible staff receive assistance as rapidly as is practicable. In many cases eligibility can be assessed very quickly but in some cases more information may be required from applicants or checks may be required to substantiate individual claims, particularly if staff left our employ some time ago, before effective decisions can be taken.