Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment criteria are used for the Syrian vulnerable persons relocation scheme.

The Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation (VPR) scheme is designed to complement our humanitarian aid efforts and is based on need. The scheme is designed to help particularly vulnerable individuals displaced by the Syrian crisis who cannot be supported effectively in the region, particularly survivors of torture and violence, women and children at risk and those in need of medical care. We are working closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to identify the most vulnerable people displaced by the conflict and UNHCR are best placed to ensure that the corresponding referrals are responsive to need.

Given the serious vulnerability of the beneficiaries, our priority is to ensure that the support and accommodation they need is in place before they arrive in the UK. We are working closely with UNHCR, the International Organisation for Migration and local authority services to achieve this as soon as practically possible as the circumstances of each particular case allow. In view of this we do not apply a standard target time for relocation and we do not collect corresponding data on individual cases. We said that we would relocate several hundred people over three years and we are on course to achieve this.