Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he plans to take to ensure the safety of translators in Afghanistan.

The Government is strongly committed to fulfilling its responsibilities to current and former locally employed staff in Afghanistan. That is why we developed a new Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP), which launched on 1 April 2021. It acknowledges and reflects the fact that the situation in Afghanistan has changed, and with it the potential risk to current and former Locally Employed Staff who worked for the UK Government over the past twenty years.

Under the new scheme, any current or former Locally Employed Staff who are assessed to be under serious threat [to life] will be offered priority relocation to the UK regardless of their employment status, rank or role, or length of time served. And local staff who have worked in roles which could have exposed their identities and placed them at risk of reprisals will be relocated to the UK by default.

The Defence Secretary is working with the Home Secretary as part of a cross Government effort, at pace, to make sure that those who have served alongside us in Afghanistan are looked after in the future. An announcement will be made shortly.