Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will list the professions eligible for consideration under category 4 of the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme.
Answered by James Heappey
There is not a finite list of professions eligible for consideration under Category 4 of the ARAP scheme. As set out in published policy, decisions for eligibility under Category 4 are taken on a case-by-case basis against a set of criteria, which allows for broader consideration of applications than would be the case if considering against specific job roles.
The published criteria are available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/afghan-relocations-and-assistance-policy/afghan-relocations-and-assistance-policy-information-and-guidance
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Government publishes information on the appeals process for Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy Category 4 candidates who have had their application rejected.
Answered by James Heappey
Our Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme reviews process is published on gov.uk and is available at the following link:
All unsuccessful ARAP applicants have the right to request a review within 90 days of receipt of their outcome letter.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many have applications for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme Category 4 have been (a) received, (b) accepted and (c) rejected.
Answered by James Heappey
Applicants to the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme do not apply for specific categories. As such, all applications are considered against each category before a decision is made. For this reason, we do not hold data on applications and rejections specifically under Category 4.
To date the Ministry of Defence has processed 22,345 applications. A total of 3,399 have been granted eligibility, of which around 1,600 grants have been recorded as being under Category 4. Since the scheme began, we have relocated over 12,200 people to the United Kingdom. Category 4 data is taken from a live database and is subject to change.
We are now processing and issuing decisions on more applications per month than we are receiving, and in March 2023 we issued more eligibility decisions than in any month previously.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending eligibility for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy to Afghan (a) special forces personnel and (b) fighter pilots trained by UK Armed Forces who face risks of reprisal in Afghanistan.
Answered by James Heappey
There are no plans to widen the ARAP criteria, which is more generous than previous Afghan relocation schemes. Furthermore, the provisions requested by the hon. Member in her question are already catered for by the ARAP scheme under Category 4. This category provides for eligibility to be granted on a case-by-case basis to Afghan nationals who worked in Afghanistan alongside a UK Government Department, or in partnership with or closely supporting and assisting that Department; alongside consideration, amongst other criteria, of the contribution an individual made to UK objectives and the threat they are now under.
The full criteria are publicly available at:
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will launch a formal inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the 1982 attack on the RFA Sir Galahad.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
A Board of Inquiry was convened on 12 July 1982 to investigate the loss of RFA Sir Galahad.
The redacted copy of this report is held at this link: https://falklandstimeline.files.wordpress.com/2022/06/board-of-inquiry-report-into-the-loss-of-rfa-sir-tristram-and-rfa-sir-galahad-june-8-1982.pdf.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of (a) ordinary and (b) named-day written questions their Department answered on time in 2022.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The proportion of ordinary and named-day written Parliamentary questions answered on time in 2022 by the Ministry of Defence is given in the following table:
Question Type | Due For Answer | Answered on Time |
Named-Day | 1,352 | 1,226 (91%) |
Ordinary Written | 1,996 | 1,879 (96%) |
Total | 3,105 | 3,105 (94%) |
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps their Department is taking to reduce the time taken to respond to (a) written parliamentary questions and (b) correspondence from Members of Parliament.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
All Government Departments have access to regular training led by the Parliamentary Capability Team through the Government Campus.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of Parliamentary Questions (PQs) and correspondence from Members of Parliament, and officials remain committed to providing the highest level of service. To complement the work of the Parliamentary Capability Team, the MOD offers training sessions to its staff on the importance of Parliamentary Business, including the timeliness and quality of PQs and correspondence.
Between the period of May to July 2022 inclusive, the MOD answered 96% of PQs and 89% of correspondence from Members of Parliament on time.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the daily cost is of housing those who have arrived in the UK under the (a) Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy Scheme and (b) Afghan Resettlement Scheme in bridging hotels; and what steps the Government is taking to provide that group of people with secure long-term accommodation as quickly as possible.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The total cost currently incurred by the Home Office in procuring hotel accommodation for both resettled persons from Afghanistan and other groups housed in hotels amounts to £4.7 million per day.
We continue to work across government with local authorities to source appropriate long-term accommodation as quickly as possible. As of the 7 June, 4,829 ARAP individuals have been settled into permanent accommodation.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what his Department's average response time was to an enquiry from a hon. Member to the MP (a) hotline and (b) account management team in (a) 2019, (b) 2020 and (c) 2021.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence from MPs, either directly or on behalf of their constituents.
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not have an MP hotline.
The MOD does not have an account management team, and the MOD correspondence team does not hold information on the average response time to enquiries from MPs, as correspondence performance is monitored by the percentage of correspondence responded to within the target response time set by the Department.
Data on the timeliness of responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers for 2019 and 2020 is published on Gov.uk here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-on-responses-to-correspondence-from-mps-and-peers. Data for 2021 will be published by the Cabinet Office in due course.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will extend the support available to UK locally employed staff in Afghanistan to those employed by private firms involved in security operations supporting UK government staff, buildings and agencies in Afghanistan.
Answered by James Heappey
The Afghanistan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) was designed with a recognition that many of those who worked with Her Majesty's Government may not have been directly employed by us. Through the ARAP a significant number of these people will be eligible for relocation to the UK, including contracted Afghan interpreters working for MOD who will be invited to apply.