Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information his Department holds on the number of Afghan nationals who are family members of individuals resettled to the UK under pathway 1 of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme who have (a) applied for and (b) been granted (i) entry clearance under refugee family reunion rules, (ii) leave outside those rules and (iii) leave to enter or remain in the UK under other immigration routes.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government continues to work with partners in the region to evacuate eligible people and are committed to bringing more Afghans to the UK in the long term. This includes eligible immediate family members of those being resettled under both the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS).
Public data giving the requested breakdown of family members is not available; however, the latest published statistics, summarised at Afghan Resettlement Programme: operational data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), show that, at the end of December 2023, 10,520 have been relocated under ACRS, with 9,706 individuals resettled under Pathway 1 of this scheme so far.
For those evacuated from Afghanistan under ACRS Pathway 1 without their immediate family members, the Home Secretary has committed to establishing a route for separated families to be reunited in the first half of this year. Further details will be provided in due course.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the oral statement by the Minister for Veteran's Affairs on Resettlement of Afghans of 19 September 2023, Official Report, column 1253, how many and what proportion of the Afghans that were housed in temporary accommodation under the local authority homelessness provision on 19 September 2023 have since been moved into permanent accommodation.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The department continues to monitor homelessness in these groups, and further data will be published on this in due course. This will be available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/homelessness-management-information-afghan-nationals-england.
We publish data on this subject on an ad hoc basis that is voluntarily provided by local authorities. The last time information was published was in September 2023 and related to 1 July 2023 to 31 August 2023. This data was published to monitor the success of the move of Afghans out of hotels into settled accommodation.
Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, how many Afghans under the (a) Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy and (b) Afghan citizens resettlement scheme are in temporary accommodation provided under local authority homelessness provision.
Answered by Felicity Buchan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
The department continues to monitor homelessness in these groups, and further data will be published on this in due course. This will be available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/homelessness-management-information-afghan-nationals-england.
We publish data on this subject on an ad hoc basis that is voluntarily provided by local authorities. The last time information was published was in September 2023 and related to 1 July 2023 to 31 August 2023. This data was published to monitor the success of the move of Afghans out of hotels into settled accommodation.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, how many requests for consular support were made to each British Embassy or Consulate in 2023; and how many of those were responded to by officials within a period of 24 hours.
Answered by David Rutley - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Our consular staff endeavour to give appropriate and tailored assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year, to British nationals overseas and their families in the UK who need support. In 2023, in addition to long running cases, we provided support to around 22,000 British nationals, see breakdown by Post in the table below. The FCDO reports publicly on consular delivery through the FCDO Outcome Delivery Plan [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/foreign-commonwealth-development-office-outcome-delivery-plan]. Publishing our transparency data is currently on hold while we embed a new Case Management system.
COUNTRY | 2023 |
Afghanistan | 22 |
Albania | 63 |
Algeria | 23 |
Angola | |
Argentina | 34 |
Armenia | 8 |
Australia | 414 |
Austria | 92 |
Azerbaijan | 12 |
Bahrain | 48 |
Barbados | 113 |
Belarus | 6 |
Belgium | 152 |
Bolivia | 12 |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 12 |
Botswana | 15 |
Brazil | 88 |
Bulgaria | 166 |
Cambodia | 112 |
Cameroon | 30 |
Canada | 181 |
Chile | 21 |
China | 143 |
Colombia | 73 |
Congo (Democratic Republic) | 22 |
Costa Rica | 39 |
Croatia | 114 |
Cuba | 29 |
Cyprus | 441 |
Czechia | 141 |
Denmark | 88 |
Dominican Republic | 67 |
Ecuador | 13 |
Egypt | 383 |
Estonia | 19 |
Ethiopia | 104 |
Fiji | 21 |
Finland | 49 |
France | 1027 |
Georgia | 27 |
Germany | 662 |
Ghana | 85 |
Greece | 936 |
Guatemala | 43 |
Guinea | |
Guyana | 17 |
Hong Kong SAR | 110 |
Hungary | 131 |
Iceland | 17 |
India | 360 |
Indonesia | 196 |
Iraq | 46 |
Ireland | 104 |
Israel | 39 |
Italy | 411 |
Ivory Coast | |
Jamaica | 179 |
Japan | 167 |
Jerusalem | 61 |
Jordan | 71 |
Kazakhstan | 14 |
Kenya | 146 |
Kuwait | 30 |
Kyrgyzstan | |
Laos | 29 |
Latvia | 20 |
Lebanon | 34 |
Liberia | |
Lithuania | 23 |
Luxembourg | 10 |
Madagascar | |
Malawi | |
Malaysia | 138 |
Malta | 106 |
Mauritius | 14 |
Mexico | 207 |
Moldova | 13 |
Mongolia | 6 |
Montenegro | 33 |
Morocco | 222 |
Myanmar (Burma) | 8 |
Namibia | 9 |
Nepal | 21 |
Netherlands | 287 |
New Zealand | 127 |
Nigeria | 74 |
Norway | 149 |
Oman | 50 |
Pakistan | 376 |
Panama | 17 |
Paraguay | |
Peru | 58 |
Philippines | 283 |
Poland | 242 |
Portugal | 524 |
Qatar | 96 |
Romania | 89 |
Russia | 28 |
Rwanda | 7 |
Saudi Arabia | 166 |
Senegal | 21 |
Serbia | 29 |
Seychelles | 11 |
Sierra Leone | 15 |
Singapore | 105 |
Slovakia | 38 |
Slovenia | 17 |
South Africa | 195 |
South Korea | 40 |
Spain | 4143 |
Sri Lanka | 86 |
St Lucia | 21 |
Sudan | 34 |
Sweden | 110 |
Switzerland | 157 |
Taiwan | 22 |
Tajikistan | 6 |
Tanzania | 36 |
Thailand | 1383 |
The Gambia | 48 |
Trinidad and Tobago | 40 |
Tunisia | 75 |
Turkey | 947 |
Uganda | 52 |
Ukraine | 56 |
United Arab Emirates | 658 |
United States | 1649 |
Uruguay | 10 |
Uzbekistan | 8 |
Venezuela | |
Vietnam | 188 |
Zambia | 22 |
Zimbabwe | 26 |
NB We do not publish data where figures are 5 or below to comply with GDPR
Asked by: Stephen Kinnock (Labour - Aberavon)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the oral contribution of the then Minister for Immigration of 17 October 2023, Official Report, column 54WH, what recent progress the Government has made on establishing a specific route to family reunion for Afghan nationals who are family members of individuals resettled to the UK under pathway 1 of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
For those evacuated from Afghanistan under Pathway 1 of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) without their immediate family members, the Home Secretary has committed to establishing a route for separated families to be reunited in the first half of this year.
Further details will be provided in due course.
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if he will make an estimate with Cabinet colleagues of the number of Afghans in Pakistan who are eligible for reunification with family members resident in the UK under the (a) Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy and (b) Afghan citizens resettlement scheme.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
The Government remains committed to providing protection for vulnerable and at-risk people fleeing Afghanistan. This includes eligible immediate family members of those being resettled under both the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) and the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS).
Public data on the number of Afghans in Pakistan who are eligible to join family members already resettled under both the ARAP and ACRS is unavailable. However; the latest published statistics, summarised at Afghan Resettlement Programme: operational data - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk), show that, at the end of December 2023, 14,423 people have been relocated to the UK under the ARAP so far, and a further 10,520 have been relocated under ACRS.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2024 to Question 19061 on Afghanistan, how many ARAP scheme applications have been reassessed as of 12 April 2024.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The reassessment of applications from those with credible links to former Afghan specialist units is well under way and is being conducted by staff independent of those who previously worked on these applications.
The first reassessment occurred on March 26, and we aim to complete reassessing the majority of the approximately 2,000 cases in scope of the review within around 12 weeks. Some complex cases might extend beyond this as we ensure all evidence is considered.
I will update the House once the review is completed, but my immediate priority is processing the cases as swiftly and diligently as possible and ensuring that the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme criteria is consistently applied to all applications being reassessed.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many Taliban leaders they have sanctioned using Magnitsky-style sanctions since 2021; and how many sanctions they have imposed in response to the suppression of the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK continues to meet our obligations under the United Nations sanctions regime relating to Afghanistan through the Afghanistan Sanctions (EU Exit) Regulations 2020, which came into force on 31 December 2020. The Government has not introduced any Global Human Rights sanctions against the Taliban since they took power in 2021, but we keep all evidence and potential designations under close review. More broadly, officials from the UK Mission to Afghanistan regularly press Taliban acting ministers on human rights abuses in Afghanistan, including against women and girls.
Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Gender Apartheid Inquiry report Shattering Women's Rights, Shattering Lives: Parliamentary Ad-Hoc Inquiry Into The Situation Of Women And Girls In Afghanistan And Iran, published by the International Bar Association on 4 March, with particular reference to the forthcoming 79th meeting of the UN General Assembly Sixth Committee in April.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The FCDO is aware of the report. There are complex legal and political questions which arise in considering any new crime of 'gender apartheid'. We are considering these questions and consulting legal advisers and subject matter experts. The situations of women and girls in Afghanistan and Iran are distinct and we will consider the unique circumstances of each country when assessing the recommendations of the Inquiry.
We have repeatedly condemned Taliban and Iranian policies and actions that restrict the rights of women and girls. Officials from the UK Mission to Afghanistan regularly press Taliban acting ministers to reverse their harmful policies on women and girls. Since Iran's mass protests of 2022-23, we have sanctioned 94 individuals or entities for human rights abuses, including senior decision makers responsible for Iran's oppressive hijab law. We will continue to work with the international community to address women and girls' rights issues in Afghanistan and Iran.
Asked by: Lord Alton of Liverpool (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what consideration they are giving to the report of the Gender Apartheid Inquiry Shattering Women's Rights, Shattering Lives, launched on 4 March, and whether they intend to formally respond to its findings and recommendations.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The FCDO is aware of the report. There are complex legal and political questions which arise in considering any new crime of 'gender apartheid'. We are considering these questions and consulting legal advisers and subject matter experts.
We have repeatedly condemned Taliban and Iranian policies and actions that restrict the rights of women and girls. Officials from the UK Mission to Afghanistan regularly press Taliban acting ministers to reverse their harmful policies on women and girls. Since Iran's mass protests of 2022-23, we have sanctioned 94 individuals or entities for human rights abuses, including senior decision makers responsible for Iran's oppressive hijab law. We will continue to work with the international community to address women and girls' rights issues in Afghanistan and Iran.