Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what number of settlement visas have been issued in total for Gurkha veterans who retired prior to 1 July 1997.

The information requested is not currently available from published statistics, and the relevant data could only be collated and verified for the purpose of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Official statistics published by the Home Office are kept under review in line with the code of practice for statistics, taking into account a number of factors including user needs, the resources required to compile the statistics, as well as quality and availability of data.