What the reasons are for delay in providing security clearance and security passes for interns from the United States of America currently …

As part of the Parliament's security vetting policy, checks are carried out with the relevant foreign authorities on all applicants who are foreign nationals or who have lived abroad for a period during the previous five years. Under normal circumstances, the clearance of such applicants takes on average five weeks: the average for UK resident applicants is two weeks. The terrorist attacks of 11 September resulted in increased demands on the resources of the USA authorities and low priority was given to vetting enquiries. Clearance times increased to an average of 16 weeks, which meant that the interns who commenced in September 2001 had finished their assignment before clearance had been received. As a result of measures set up with Edinburgh University, which arranges the internships, together with easing pressures on the USA authorities, the average clearance time for the most recent intake of interns is currently eight weeks, with the majority being cleared within six weeks.