Asked by: Lord Bishop of Southwark (Bishops - Bishops)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to relocate (1) interpreters, (2) security guards, and (3) other locally employed government staff, who are still in Afghanistan, back to the UK; and what is the timescale for that relocation.
Answered by Baroness Goldie - Shadow Minister (Defence)
The Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) launched on 1 April 2021 and remains open. This scheme offers relocation or other assistance to former Locally Employed Staff (LES) to reflect the changing situation in Afghanistan.
To date, we have relocated over 9,900 eligible individuals and their dependents and we estimate that there are around 8,000 (inclusive of their dependents) ARAP eligible individuals still to be relocated to the UK. This figure is subject to change as we continue to work through the outstanding applications.
It is not possible to break down statistics for the number of individuals relocated by specific job role, and timescales can vary enormously from case to case dependent on the individual circumstances of an applicant. This can include, but is not limited to, factors such as their ability to respond to requests for information, their location, their access to IT or the employment checks we need to undertake.
We continue to work alongside our partners to relocate eligible Afghans through third countries. Due to operational sensitivities, it is not possible to share specific details.