Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, whether his Department has made representations to the Government of Pakistan on the safety of Afghan refugees in that country who are eligible for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme.

The Department, including the Foreign Secretary and the British High Commissioner to Islamabad, has made such representations, and will continue to do so. We have received assurances from the Government of Pakistan that Afghans being supported in Pakistan under the Afghans Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) will remain safe in Pakistan while they await relocation to the UK. An MOD-led operation has relocated over 1,500 ARAP-eligible Afghans to the UK since September.