Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what use has been made of the £36 million exceptional costs fund which forms part of the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Programme.

The Home Office has budgeted £36 million for the exceptional costs fund for the lifetime of the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme. As at 31 December 2017, £2.4 million of this had been claimed by local authorities against a budget to date of £17 million. The funding is available to help local authorities with exceptional costs which we anticipate will be predominantly for social care, housing adaptations and special educational needs. We continue to work closely with local authorities and healthcare providers to help them claim eligible exceptional costs.

£242m has been allocated to the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme between 2015/16 and 2017/18. At 31 December 2017, expenditure of £157.5m had been recorded.