Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the oral contribution of the Secretary of State for International Development of 2 October 2019, Official Report column 1205, when she plans to (a) publish the timescale for informing local authority and civil society partners of and (b) begin supporting those organisations to prepare for that commitment to resettle 5,000 refugees every year post-2020.

We are grateful to the many local authorities and civil society organisations who have participated in the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS). Through the collective goodwill and efforts of all involved over 17,000 vulnerable refugees fleeing conflict have now found safety in the UK to rebuild their lives.

Delivery of our resettlement schemes has relied strongly on the principles of collaboration and co-design between central and local government and other partners. We continue to engage closely with regional Strategic Migration Partnerships (SMP), local authorities and other stakeholders as we collectively prepare to transition to the new resettlement scheme in 2020.