Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to increase the number of resettlement places offered by the Government to at least 10,000 places per year for people fleeing war and persecution; and if she will make a statement.

The UK has already committed to resettling 23,000 of the most vulnerable refugees from the Middle East and North Africa region by the year 2020 through our Vulnerable Persons and Vulnerable Children’s resettlement schemes, and we have no plans to increase this at the present time. This is in addition to those we resettle through our Gateway and Mandate schemes and the thousands who receive protection in the UK under normal asylum procedures.

Our priorities are humanitarian aid and actively seeking an end to the conflict in Syria. We believe this approach is the best way to ensure that the UK’s help has the greatest impact for the majority of refugees who remain in the region and their host countries.