Afghanistan: Refugees

(asked on 11th December 2023) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy applications are awaiting an initial eligibility decision from his Department as of 11 December 2023.


Answered by
James Heappey Portrait
James Heappey
This question was answered on 19th December 2023

As of 12 December 2023, around 2,000 Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) principal applicants are awaiting an eligibility decision, of which many are new applications to the scheme.

I made a commitment to clear the backlog of applications by August 2023. This drove improvement in casework systems and processes and the bringing in of extra resource. The result was that between January and November this year, the Ministry of Defence issued decisions on over 75,000 applications, clearing virtually the entirety of the backlog and providing applicants the clarity they both need and deserve.

A large percentage of the remaining 2,000 are new applications to the scheme, which is still open.

Reticulating Splines