Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy

Monday 18 July 2022 · 4 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 1 Partly answered 3 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Discussions with Cabinet colleagues involve engaging NGOs to help identify the 2,000 principals who worked with UK forces in Afghanistan.
  • A total of 9,962 people have come to the UK under the ARAP scheme since Operation Pitting concluded.
  • The ARAP scheme is working with NGOs to speed up the process of finding and bringing out those on the list who worked with UK forces.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Elliot Colburn
Immigration
Context

The question arises from discussions on the effectiveness of the Afghan relocations and assistance programme.

Question

What discussions have been had with Cabinet colleagues on the effectiveness of the Afghan relocations and assistance policy? This scheme has seen over 100,000 applications. The challenge is identifying individual applicants due to sharing of staff numbers and names among those who worked in Helmand.

Answer from James Heappey

Discussions have involved engaging NGOs to help identify the 2,000 principals who actually worked for us, to bring them out as quickly as possible. The challenge is finding these individuals among tens of thousands of applications where staff numbers are being shared.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The questioner asked about discussions with Cabinet colleagues, but the answer focused on identifying applicants rather than discussing effectiveness or inter-Cabinet communications.

How: Changing Subject To Identification Challenges

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Q2 Jeff Smith Lab Manchester Withington
Immigration Foreign Affairs
Context

Ministers confirmed last month that around 8,000 Afghans and their families are still eligible for relocation under the ARAP scheme.

Question

What specifically are Ministers doing to identify those people who worked with UK forces in Afghanistan, establish pathways for them to come here, and process applications as quickly as possible?

Answer from James Heappey

We are asking NGOs with networks in-country to help find the 2,000 principals left who worked with us. We have the capacity and routes to bring them out but face challenges due to duplicate applications and gaming of the system.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The questioner asked for specifics on identification and processing pathways, but the answer focused more on challenges than concrete measures.

How: Changing Subject To Challenges

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Q3 Elliot Colburn
Asylum & Refugees
Context

The MOD's Afghan relocation team is working on identifying and processing applications including friends and relatives of Carshalton and Wallington residents.

Question

How many individuals have made it to the UK under the ARAP scheme since Operation Pitting concluded?

Answer from James Heappey

A total of 9,962 people have come out under ARAP since Operation Pitting concluded, including 2,984 after Op Pitting ended.

Answered
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Q4 Luke Pollard Labour (Co-op) Plymouth Sutton and Devonport
Asylum & Refugees
Context

The anniversary of Operation Pitting is approaching, with many Afghan citizens still awaiting relocation or family reunions.

Question

What will the Minister do to speed up this process so that promises made can be honoured in time for the one-year anniversary?

Answer from James Heappey

ARAP is a tightly bound scheme, not like resettlement mechanisms where each case might be judged individually. We are working fast with NGOs to find and bring out those on our list who worked with UK forces.

Partly answered

Not addressed: The questioner asked for specific actions but the answer focused more on limitations of ARAP and challenges in identification.

How: Changing Subject To System Limitations

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