Asked by: Lord Mawhinney (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their estimate of how many Syrian refugees will arrive in the United Kingdom for resettlement in the next 12 months.
Answered by Lord Bates
We intend to resettle 20,000 Syrians in need of protection during this Parliament. We will continue to work closely with the UNHCR to identify appropriate cases, prioritising the most vulnerable. As the expanded scheme is based on need and reliant on the UNHCR and other partners to make it work, it is not possible or appropriate to set any sort of annual target, but we are clear that we want to help people as quickly as possible.
Asked by: Lord Mawhinney (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guidance and restrictions they have given to the UNHCR about the selection of Syrian refugees for resettlement in the United Kingdom.
Answered by Lord Bates
The UK will continue to use the established UNHCR process for identifying and resettling refugees. We are in discussion with the UNHCR on the precise criteria for selecting cases for the expanded resettlement scheme. However, we are clear that the most vulnerable cases will be prioritised and we will only resettle those people that we and the UNHCR agree require resettlement in a country like the UK.
Asked by: Lord Mawhinney (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what role the free movement of people between the United Kingdom and Ireland, however defined, plays in the Anglo-Irish agreement and in the documents which underpin it.
Answered by Lord Bates
Free movement of people between the United Kingdom and Ireland within the Common Travel Area has existed since 1923 and therefore predates both the Anglo-Irish Agreement and the subsequent British-Irish Agreement. The free movement of people between the two jurisdictions is not provided for by either Agreement.