Asked by: Baroness Smith of Newnham (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, following the recent change in their policy regarding the cap on the number of Afghans eligible to come to the UK under Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme, what plans they have to charter planes to allow those to leave Pakistan and arrive in the UK via a safe route.
Answered by Lord Sharpe of Epsom - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) will see up to 20,000 people from Afghanistan and the region resettled to the UK over the coming years.
Flights for those being resettled under the ACRS are organised by the International Organisation for Migration, in line with requests from the Home Office. As flights are operational you will appreciate, we cannot go into operational details.
We will continue to honour our commitment to bring eligible Afghans to the UK, with new arrivals going directly into settled accommodation where possible.