Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what efforts are being made to organise safe routes for asylum seekers, avoiding dangerous sea crossings.

We operate four resettlement schemes, working closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to provide safe and legal routes to the UK for the most vulnerable refugees: Gateway, Mandate, the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement scheme and the Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement scheme.

The UK supports the principle that those in need of international protection should claim in the first safe country they arrive. The UK Government has committed more than £2.46 billion in response to the conflict in Syria. We have also allocated more than £100 million assistance in response to the Mediterranean migration crisis, mostly within Europe. The Prime Minister announced a further £75 million for the Central Mediterranean migration fund in July 2017

We have a comprehensive framework for refugees and their families to be safely reunited in the UK. Our family reunion policy allows immediate family members of those granted protection here to reunite with them. The Immigration Rules also provide for relatives with protection in the UK to sponsor children in serious and compelling circumstances. This policy is designed to provide a safe and legal route for close, dependent family members to join their refugee family in the UK, avoiding the need for them to make dangerous journeys to seek protection.

The UK continues to actively support the UN negotiations on the Migration and Refugee Compacts; our aim is to ensure these focus on supporting refugees and migrants closer to home, preventing dangerous journeys, tackling smuggling, as well as encouraging more resettlement globally.