Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what criteria are applied to determine how many diplomatic visas are issued to countries with embassies in the UK.

His Majesty's Government does not set criteria for limiting the number of diplomatic staff accredited to the UK. However, as set out in the 1985 Government Report on the Review of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations of 1961, His Majesty's Government may limit the size of a mission in cases where there are issues relating to the nature of a mission's activities, or to take account of the size of the UK mission in the country concerned. Such considerations are made on a case-by-case basis.