Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many serving police officers in each force took their own lives in each of the last eight quarters.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Home Office does not collect information centrally on how many serving police officers have taken their own lives.
This information is held by individual Police Forces.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Afghan citizens have been referred to Pathway Two of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme as on 2 September 2022; and how many and what proportion of these have been admitted to the UK.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Operation PITTING took place in August 2021 – it was the largest UK military evacuation since the Second World War, during which we evacuated around 15,000 individuals to the UK. In the year since the evacuation, around 5,000 more individuals have arrived in the UK via neighbouring countries.
The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) launched in January, and this will provide up to 20,000 women, children, and others at risk with a safe and legal route to resettle and re-build their lives in the UK over the coming years.
The ACRS is not application-based. Instead, eligible individuals will be prioritised and referred for resettlement to the UK through one of three referral pathways.
Through ACRS Pathway 1, some of those already evacuated to the UK under Op PITTING are being granted a place on the scheme. Those eligible who were called forward during the evacuation, but were not able to board flights, will also be resettled through pathway 1 if they subsequently come to the UK.
Under ACRS Pathway 2, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will refer refugees - who have already fled Afghanistan - for resettlement to the UK. Those referred will be assessed for resettlement by the UNHCR, using their established processes.
We have now begun to receive the first referrals for resettlement under pathway 2 of the ACRS – which opened in June – from the UNHCR. It is anticipated we will receive referrals for up to 2,000 refugees during the first year of this pathway, although this number will be kept under review – and we look forward to welcoming the first new arrivals under this pathway in due course.
Further information on UNHCR referrals is available at:
UNHCR UK Information and Links on Afghanistan Situation - UNHCR United Kingdom
Under ACRS Pathway 3 eligible British Council and GardaWorld contractors as well as Chevening alumni will be considered for resettlement during the first year of this pathway.
The ACRS is in addition to individuals relocated through the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP). We have relocated around 10,000 eligible Afghan citizens and their family members under the ARAP scheme since it opened it April 2021 – and the scheme remains open.
Work is underway to assure information relating to all the individuals relocated under the ARAP and ACRS on case working systems. Once this work concludes, statistics on both schemes - including the number of people resettled under each - will be included in the published Immigration Statistics.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Afghan citizen refugees have entered the UK since August 2021; and through which schemes or pathways they have been admitted.
Answered by Tom Pursglove - Minister of State (Minister for Legal Migration and Delivery)
Operation PITTING took place in August 2021 – it was the largest UK military evacuation since the Second World War, during which we evacuated around 15,000 individuals to the UK. In the year since the evacuation, around 5,000 more individuals have arrived in the UK via neighbouring countries.
The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) launched in January, and this will provide up to 20,000 women, children, and others at risk with a safe and legal route to resettle and re-build their lives in the UK over the coming years.
The ACRS is not application-based. Instead, eligible individuals will be prioritised and referred for resettlement to the UK through one of three referral pathways.
Through ACRS Pathway 1, some of those already evacuated to the UK under Op PITTING are being granted a place on the scheme. Those eligible who were called forward during the evacuation, but were not able to board flights, will also be resettled through pathway 1 if they subsequently come to the UK.
Under ACRS Pathway 2, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will refer refugees - who have already fled Afghanistan - for resettlement to the UK. Those referred will be assessed for resettlement by the UNHCR, using their established processes.
We have now begun to receive the first referrals for resettlement under pathway 2 of the ACRS – which opened in June – from the UNHCR. It is anticipated we will receive referrals for up to 2,000 refugees during the first year of this pathway, although this number will be kept under review – and we look forward to welcoming the first new arrivals under this pathway in due course.
Further information on UNHCR referrals is available at:
UNHCR UK Information and Links on Afghanistan Situation - UNHCR United Kingdom
Under ACRS Pathway 3 eligible British Council and GardaWorld contractors as well as Chevening alumni will be considered for resettlement during the first year of this pathway.
The ACRS is in addition to individuals relocated through the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP). We have relocated around 10,000 eligible Afghan citizens and their family members under the ARAP scheme since it opened it April 2021 – and the scheme remains open.
Work is underway to assure information relating to all the individuals relocated under the ARAP and ACRS on case working systems. Once this work concludes, statistics on both schemes - including the number of people resettled under each - will be included in the published Immigration Statistics.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the earliest arrival date of Afghan citizens to the UK under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme commenced on 6th January, providing up to 20,000 women, children and others at risk with a safe and legal route to resettle in the UK
There are around 6,500 people in the UK who have been brought to safety during and after the evacuation and who are eligible for the ACRS. They include women’s rights activists, journalists, and prosecutors, as well as Afghan families of British Nationals. The first Afghan families have already been granted Indefinite Leave to Remain under the scheme.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plan her Department has for the delivery of the Afghan citizens' resettlement scheme.
Answered by Victoria Atkins - Secretary of State for Health and Social Care
Through the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS), the UK will relocate up to 20,000 people at risk, including women and girls and minority groups, so they can rebuild their lives in safety.
The scheme is not yet open. However, we are working urgently to open the scheme, amid the complex and changing picture.
The Home Office will continue to work closely with other Government departments, non-governmental organisations, charities, local authorities and other partners and relevant organisations in the development and implementation of the ACRS.
Further information on the eligibility, prioritisation and referral of people for the ACRS is set out in the policy statement published on gov.uk on 13 September, available at www.gov.uk/government/publications/afghanistan-resettlement-and-immigration-policy-statement.
Asked by: Kate Hollern (Labour - Blackburn)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how long on average her Department took to respond to casework from hon. Members in each month of (a) 2020 and (b) 2019; and when her Department plans to respond to CTS Reference: B4144/11.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Department works to a target of responding to 95% of MPs written correspondence within 20 working days. Performance has been impacted by a very significant increase in the volume of correspondence received, alongside the need for Ministers and officials to instigate a remote process for drafting and signing correspondence during the period of COVID-19 restrictions.
The latest published data on UKVI performance against the service standard which includes data up to and including the end of quarter 3-2020/21 is held at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/customer-service-operations-data-november-2020
A response to CTS Reference B4144/11 was sent on 23 February 2021.