Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Williams of Trafford on 1 December (HL3335), and in the light of the inclusion in the vulnerability criteria of persons at risk due to their sexual orientation, how they determine whether people are being accepted into the scheme because of their sexual orientation or gender identity; and how the application of the vulnerability criteria relating to sexual orientation is audited and validated.

We are clear that our scheme will prioritise the most vulnerable refugees, and that is why under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement (VPR) scheme the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) identifies refugees for resettlement using its established vulnerability criteria. The seven vulnerability criteria used by the UNHCR are Legal and or Physical Protection Needs; Survivors of Torture and/or Violence; Medical Needs; Women and Girls at Risk; Family Reunification; Children and Adolescents at Risk and Lack of Foreseeable Alternative Durable Solutions.

Persons who are at risk due to their sexual orientation or gender identity are usually referred for resettlement using the category “Legal and Physical Protection Needs”, however they can also be referred under one of the other categories if more applicable. We are working with the UNHCR and other partners to intensify their outreach to groups that might otherwise be reluctant to register for fear of stigma or discrimination and who may be unaware of the options available to them.