Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 24 January 2017 to Question 60854, to which Minister in which Department hon. Members should address their concerns on the well-being of Syrian refugees who have entered mainland Europe.

I am responsible for the policy and operations related to asylum seekers and refugees inside the UK. The primary responsibility for refugees outside the UK rests with the host country within which they are residing; this principle applies to Syrian refugees who have entered mainland Europe.

However, the UK has a strong interest in this matter, and, as with refugees issues further afield, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Home Office and Department for International Development work closely to support Europe in dealing with refugees, including those from Syria. We have:

• Provided significant assistance via the European Asylum Support Office to Member States facing particular pressures to ensure that all refugees can have effective access to protection, wherever they are.

• Established a £10 million Refugee Children’s Fund for Europe, which aims to prevent and mitigate protection risks faced by vulnerable separated and unaccompanied refugee and migrant children in Europe.
• Allocated up to £34 million to the humanitarian response in Greece.

This is in addition to the UK’s wider response to the Syrian crisis. We have pledged £2.3 billion, making the UK one of the largest donors to the humanitarian crisis.