Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what plans he has to (a) recognise the contribution of civilian interpreters who worked for the Armed Forces in Afghanistan and (b) commemorate those who lost their lives because of their service.

The Ministry of Defence and the UK remains indebted to all Afghan nationals who risked their lives working for and alongside UK forces in Afghanistan. It is in recognition of this contribution and associated risk that the Government introduced the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme on 1 April 2021 to provide relocation or other assistance to Afghan nationals who meet the criteria set out in the Immigration Rules. As of June 2023, we have relocated over 12,200 people to safety in the UK under the ARAP scheme.