Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 7 June 2023 to Question 187102, how many and what proportion of applications for relocation under the ARAP scheme by family members were not granted in each of the last 12 months.
Answered by James Heappey
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to Question 200449.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 7 June 2023 to Question 187102 on Afghanistan: Refugees, how many ARAP-eligible family members have had their applications declined in the last 12 months.
Answered by James Heappey
Principal ARAP applicants apply on behalf of their family members. Family members eligible for relocation under ARAP cannot have applications declined, as they do not directly apply to ARAP and are already eligible for relocation.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing non-religious pastoral care for non-religious armed forces personnel.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Military Chaplains are professionally qualified to provide pastoral care to everyone, regardless of faith or belief background. However, should a Service person feel uncomfortable with talking to a Chaplain, they are able to seek appropriate professional support from a variety of alternative sources, which can be facilitated by the Chaplain. This includes their Chain of Command, through the Services' professional social workers, medical staff, and dedicated welfare staff. Mutual support is also available via the various staff networks, including the Humanist and Non-Religious in Defence (HAND) Network.
Having carefully considered whether this provision is adequate and suitably reflects the needs of all our people, we have recently conducted a review of this matter and consider the provision of pastoral care merits enhancement so that we can deliver even better support.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 31 January 2023 to Question 129949 on Afghanistan: Refugees, whether it is his Department's policy that a Relocations and Assistance Policy application invalidates an existing application for Leave Outside The Rules for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme.
Answered by James Heappey
As mentioned in my response of 31 January 2023, Leave Outside the Rules was the previous way of applying for Additional Family Members (AFM) under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP). AFM are now included within the ARAP immigration rules.
Afghan nationals can both submit their own ARAP application and be included on an AFM application submitted by a different applicant with confirmed ARAP eligibility. One does not invalidate the other.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether an applicant for Leave Outside The Rules for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme is permitted to make a simultaneous claim to the Afghan Citizen Resettlement Scheme.
Answered by James Heappey
Leave Outside the Rules was the previous way of applying for Additional Family Members (AFM) under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP). AFM are now included within the ARAP immigration rules.
ARAP eligibility entitles individuals to apply for AFM under ARAP only, not the Afghan Citizen Relocation Scheme. This makes it highly unlikely that principals would consider AFM and ACRS simultaneously.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the timescales of the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme.
Answered by James Heappey
Significant progress has been made to accelerate casework processing, and we are focussing casework resource on finding those Afghan nationals who are eligible for ARAP.
However, timescales can nonetheless vary due to a number of factors, including case complexity, the need to conduct checks with other Government Departments, and our reliance on applicants responding to queries before we can progress cases.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the impact of the duty under section 149 of the Equality Act on the provision by his Department of pastoral support for armed forces personnel who hold religious and non-religious beliefs, including humanism.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave him on 15 July 2020 to Question 35026.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the law on genuine occupational requirement, whether he has considered the potential merits of providing non-religious as well as religious pastoral support to armed forces personnel.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
Military Chaplains are professionally qualified to provide pastoral care to everyone, regardless of philosophy or faith background. Service personnel who do not wish to talk to a Chaplain are encouraged to seek support from a variety of alternative sources, which can be facilitated by the Chaplain. This includes their Chain of Command, through the Services' professional social workers, medical staff and welfare staff. Mutual support is also available via the various staff networks, including the Humanist and Non Religious in Defence (HAND) Network.
The Department is working to create and sustain an environment where everyone feels able to be authentic; where people feel respected and able to achieve their full potential. We have carefully considered the position expressed by Humanists UK on the provision of non-religious pastoral support for our Armed Forces and have recently concluded a review of this matter. We are currently considering the recommendations of that review and how best we can support all our people.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the difference between the mechanisms the US use and the mechanisms his Department uses, to monitor and investigate instances of possible civilian harm from airstrikes with the US-led Coalition in Iraq and Syria.
Answered by James Heappey
The UK follows robust procedures and uses all available evidence when conducting battle damage assessments. Parliament will always be informed of any instance where we assess a UK airstrike is responsible for a civilian casualty incident, whether incurred during a new strike, or as a result of re-examining historic strikes using new information. Specifically under Operation SHADER, the UK's contribution to the US-led Coalition, Operation INHERENT RESOLVE, the UK has conducted airstrikes against Daesh in Iraq and Syria. The UK has accepted responsibility for one civilian casualty that occurred during an airstrike on Daesh fighters in eastern Syria on 26 March 2018. This incident was subject to a Written Ministerial Statement on 2 May 2018. However, we accept the possibility that there could be other instances of civilian casualties about which we are unaware, despite our best efforts to assess battle damage. For that reason, in 2016, the then Defence Secretary committed that MOD officials would work with civil society organisations on this issue. As a result, we always re-examine any new information relating to a potential incident submitted to us by such organisations, where it is possible that UK forces may have been involved.
Asked by: Lloyd Russell-Moyle (Labour (Co-op) - Brighton, Kemptown)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if his Department will make an assessment of the potential merits of investigating, and reinvestigating where necessary, specific instances of possible civilian harm resulting from UK airstrikes as part of the US-led Coalition in Iraq and Syria flagged by monitoring organisations; and if he will publish the results of those investigations.
Answered by James Heappey
The UK follows robust procedures and uses all available evidence when conducting battle damage assessments. Parliament will always be informed of any instance where we assess a UK airstrike is responsible for a civilian casualty incident, whether incurred during a new strike, or as a result of re-examining historic strikes using new information. Specifically under Operation SHADER, the UK's contribution to the US-led Coalition, Operation INHERENT RESOLVE, the UK has conducted airstrikes against Daesh in Iraq and Syria. The UK has accepted responsibility for one civilian casualty that occurred during an airstrike on Daesh fighters in eastern Syria on 26 March 2018. This incident was subject to a Written Ministerial Statement on 2 May 2018. However, we accept the possibility that there could be other instances of civilian casualties about which we are unaware, despite our best efforts to assess battle damage. For that reason, in 2016, the then Defence Secretary committed that MOD officials would work with civil society organisations on this issue. As a result, we always re-examine any new information relating to a potential incident submitted to us by such organisations, where it is possible that UK forces may have been involved.