Asked by: Tonia Antoniazzi (Labour - Gower)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the Taliban's decision to permanently ban women and girls from education.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
I refer the Hon Member to the answer provided on 12 January in response to Question 103187.
Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester Rusholme)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions she has had with international partners on modern slavery in Afghanistan.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office officials are working closely with international partners on this issue, as well as broader human rights concerns in Afghanistan. Officials consistently raise human rights concerns with the Taliban and urge them to reverse their inhuman restrictions. We continue to support the UN Special Rapporteur and his mandate to document human rights abuses in Afghanistan. Upholding human rights is not only a moral imperative but also essential for building a stable, inclusive and prosperous country for all Afghans.
Asked by: Brian Mathew (Liberal Democrat - Melksham and Devizes)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many current and former serving Afghan military personnel remain in Afghanistan now that the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy has ended.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The UK Government does not hold details of the number of current and former serving Afghan military personnel who remain in Afghanistan.
Asked by: Baroness Buscombe (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many children of Afghan refugees attending schools in or near army barracks across the UK are being taught in classes segregated by sex.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
The information requested is not held centrally.
Asked by: Sammy Wilson (Democratic Unionist Party - East Antrim)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps she is taking to support international monitoring and accountability mechanisms on freedom of religion or belief in Afghanistan.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Afghanistan is a focus country in the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's approach to freedom of religion or belief, announced on 8 July 2025, and officials regularly press the Taliban to respect the human rights of all Afghans. We work with international partners to maintain collective pressure on the Taliban to reverse their inhuman restrictions, including on freedom of religion or belief. We continue to support the UN Special Rapporteur and his mandate to document human rights abuses in Afghanistan. Upholding human rights and basic freedoms are not only a moral imperative but also essential for building a stable, inclusive and prosperous country for all Afghans. Without inclusive governance that reflects Afghanistan's religious, ethnic, gender and cultural diversity, we will never see an Afghanistan at peace with itself and its neighbours.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the total cost to the public purse is of the Afghanistan Response Route to date.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
As set out previously, as of July 2025, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) assessed the total cost of the Afghanistan Response Route (ARR) to be approximately £400 million. The Department anticipates a further £450 million in forecasted expenditure related to ARR resettlement activity, bringing the projected overall cost of the ARR scheme to £850 million.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, for the total number of people to enter the UK through the Afghanistan Response Route to date.
Answered by Mike Tapp - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Home Office)
The information you have requested is published in the Immigration system statistics quarterly release - GOV.UK. Data on the Afghan Response Route (ARR) are published in table Res_01 of the Safe and legal (humanitarian) routes to the UK summary tables, which provides a specific breakdown of ARR arrivals. The latest data is available up to the end of September 2025. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbook.
Asked by: Paul Holmes (Conservative - Hamble Valley)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether the Local Authority Housing Fund: Round 4 can be used to provide accommodation for asylum seekers and former asylum seekers other than those from Afghanistan.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
The Local Authority Housing Fund Round 4 (LAHF R4) funds local authorities to provide better quality temporary accommodation to those owed homelessness duties, as well as providing sustainable settled housing for families on the Afghan Resettlement Programme (ARP).
Asylum seekers are not eligible for LAHF accommodation, and they are not eligible for social housing.
Former asylum seekers who have been granted indefinite leave to remain (ILR), refugee status or humanitarian protection, or leave to remain with recourse to public funds, may be entitled to homelessness assistance and temporary accommodation.
Asked by: Iain Duncan Smith (Conservative - Chingford and Woodford Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent discussions her Department has had with its international partners and relevant authorities on restrictions on girls’ access to education in Afghanistan.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government condemns the Taliban's ban on girls' secondary and higher education in Afghanistan. Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office officials consistently raise human rights concerns, including the ban on girls' education, in engagements with the Taliban, including during every visit to Kabul. The UK works closely with international partners to sustain pressure on the Taliban, including through our chairmanship of the G7+ group of countries, our membership of the Afghanistan Coordination Group and engagement through the UN and the Human Rights Council.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the answer of 6 January 2026 to Question UIN 101823, whether her Department (a) acknowledges; and (b) accepts the findings of the People's Tribunal of Women of Afghanistan's judgement of 11 December 2025.
Answered by Hamish Falconer - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK Government supports legal initiatives to hold the Taliban to account for their repression of Afghan women and girls, and we welcome the progress being made across a range of such initiatives. In the interim, we are continuing to work with international partners to maintain collective pressure on the Taliban to reverse their inhuman restrictions on women and girls.