Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she is taking steps with Cabinet colleagues to help refugees learn English.

We know that language skills are crucial to help people integrate into life in England, as well as to break down barriers to work and career progression.

The Department for Education funds English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) through the Adult Education Budget (AEB). Refugees and those granted humanitarian protection are eligible for full funding for ESOL through the AEB if they are unemployed and looking for work.

The Home Office provides funding to local authorities to support resettlement and integration costs for those who arrive through the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme and the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy. In the first year this includes £850 per adult to cover additional English language provision.

We have also invested in a number of ways to improve English language provision for refugees, including providing £1.8mn in 2022/23 to support additional childcare so that refugees resettled to the UK (the UKRS) can access ESOL lessons; and £360,000 to improve regional coordination of ESOL for refugees.

The government is committed to offering an enhanced integration package for refugees arriving through safe and legal routes, to help them integrate and become self-sufficient more quickly. This will be delivered in England through the Refugee Employability Programme (REP), which has three key pillars: tailored employment support, integration support and English language training. More information about the Refugee Employability Programme can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/refugee-employability-programme/refugee-employability-programme-policy-statement.