Refugees: Afghanistan

(asked on 2nd June 2023) - View Source

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) principals and (b) dependants have been relocated from Afghanistan to the UK through the Afghan Citizen Resettlement Scheme under (i) Pathway 2 and (ii) Pathway 3 since June 2022.


Answered by
Robert Jenrick Portrait
Robert Jenrick
This question was answered on 12th June 2023

The UK has made one of the largest commitments of any country to support those impacted by events in Afghanistan.

Whilst public data on separating principals and dependants is not available, the latest Immigration system statistics, year ending March 2023 - GOV.UK (published on 25 May 2023), show that since their first arrivals in 2021, the Afghan schemes – the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) and the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) - have resettled a total of 21,004 people.

A breakdown in these statistics by ACRS pathway, shows that we have now resettled: 9,059 individuals under ACRS Pathway 1, 40 individuals under ACRS Pathway 2 and 14 individuals under ACRS Pathway 3.

There are currently no published statistics on UNHCR referrals, and we do not hold public data on the volume of referrals from UNHCR.

The Home Office does not hold centralised data on the number of individuals who have accessed English language courses for Afghan settlers and their dependents under Operation Warm Welcome.

Councils with bridging hotels in their area have been commissioned by the Home Office to deliver hotel wraparound support to people on the Afghan resettlement schemes. As part of this wraparound support, Local Authorities should provide English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) support for residents to support integration and enable guests to move on to permanent accommodation and settle into new communities, access jobs and services.

A dedicated cross-government casework team, made up of Home Office Liaison Officers and DWP staff, are based in hotels and work alongside local authority officials to provide advice to Afghans, including information on how to rent in the private sector, support people to find jobs and access English language training.

Reticulating Splines