Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to raise awareness of the EU Settlement Scheme among (a) EU citizens of Somali origin and (b) other large communities of EU citizens of non-EU origin.

It is vital that the estimated three million EU citizens and their non-EU family members living in the UK understand how and when to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme.

When the scheme fully opened in March, the Home office delivered a £3.75m marketing campaign to raise awareness of the scheme and encourage applications. As of 31 August 2019, 1.3 million people have now applied to the EU Settlement Scheme. Of these, approximately 66,700 are non-EU family members. EU citizens and their families have until at least 31 December 2020 to apply, and the Home Office will continually monitor interest and intake to the scheme throughout its lifetime.

Further advertising and stakeholder communications are underway to continue to raise awareness of the scheme. All available channels will be used to reach our audiences – such as direct marketing, radio, video-on-demand and outdoor advertising, presentations, email updates, toolkits and webinars to name a few – to direct all eligible cohorts towards reliable sources of information on GOV.UK and the application itself.

No-one will be left behind which is why we are also working in partnership with vulnerable group representatives, local authorities and other experts to make everyone knows what they need to do and has the right level of support. We have awarded up to £9 million to 57 voluntary and community sector organisations across the UK to help us reach an estimated 200,000 vulnerable or at-risk EU citizens and their family members.