Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will extend the scope of the refugee family reunion rules in response to the current crisis.

Our refugee family reunion policy is intended to allow immediate family members, that is, spouse or partner and children under the age of 18, who formed part of the family unit at the time their sponsor fled, to rebuild their lives in the UK. We have no plans to widen the family reunion criteria. But under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme we are working closely with the UNHCR to resettle close family groups where at least one member qualifies under the scheme.