Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans for a process for hon Members to forward cases for consideration under the third referral pathway of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme when eligibility widens after the first year of operation.

The third referral pathway will focus on those most at risk who supported the UK and international community effort in Afghanistan.

In the first year of this third referral pathway, the Government will offer ACRS places to the most at risk British Council and GardaWorld contractors and Chevening alumni. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office will be in touch with those eligible to support them through the next steps. Beyond the first year of the ACRS, we will work with international partners and NGOs to welcome wider groups of Afghans most at risk.

Representations from Members of Parliament have raised the plight of a great number of people from Afghanistan who would wish to relocate to the UK.

These representations have helped to inform the design of the ACRS as a scheme that will help those in need who are particularly vulnerable, including women and children at risk, and minority groups; as well as those who have supported the UK mission in Afghanistan.

All referrals onto the ACRS will be through the three pathways set out in the statement to Parliament of 6 January, which is a fair and equitable way to identify those most in need. As an additional verification step, we shall check names of eligible British Council and GardaWorld contractors, and Chevening alumni against the names of people referred to us by MPs during the evacuation.

Further detail on the three referral pathways can be found at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/afghan-citizens-resettlement-scheme.