Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, further to her oral Statement on 19 December 2022, on Migration and Economic Development, Official Report, whether her Department's policy of deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda applies to (a) a family group arriving in the UK to seek asylum and (b) individuals arriving in the UK to seek asylum who have family members already in the UK.

With the exception of unaccompanied children, any individual who has arrived in the UK since 1 January 2022 by unnecessary and dangerous means from safe countries may be considered for relocation to Rwanda.

Families with children are potentially eligible for relocation; however the initial process will focus on adults. A further assessment of Rwanda’s capacity to accommodate children will be undertaken before this occurs. This is set out in our published Equality Impact Assessment: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/migration-and-economic-development-partnership-with-rwanda.

For those with family links in the UK who want to be considered for entry to the UK, they should seek to do so via legal and safe routes.

Everyone considered for relocation will be screened and have access to legal advice. Decisions will be taken on a case-by-case basis, and nobody will be removed if it is unsafe or inappropriate for them.