Oral Answers to Questions

Owen Thompson Excerpts

Wednesday 26th October 2016 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is right and I recognise that this is a matter that he has raised before. We have seen that the coalition activity that is taking place is having some impact, and is having an impact, as we wish it to, in relation to Daesh. There are no plans at present either to do what he suggested in his question or to provide a field hospital and field medical capabilities from the United Kingdom, but we continually review what we are doing in support of the coalition, and the training that we are providing for the peshmerga includes training in the provision of medical facilities.

[Owen Thompson (Midlothian) (SNP)]

Q11. I am sure that we all recognise that the removal of the camp at Calais is not a long-term solution to the ongoing humanitarian crisis. What will the Government do to learn from the experiences in Calais and speed up the acceptance of vulnerable individuals, as they committed to do under Lords Dubs’s scheme?

[The Prime Minister]

Individuals are already being brought to the United Kingdom under the Dubs amendment, in addition to the resettlement scheme for vulnerable Syrians—the 20,000 who will be brought here over the course of this Parliament—and in addition to the 3,000 vulnerable people, children and others, who will be brought here from the middle east and north Africa. We are working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to ensure that it is right for those individuals to come to the UK and that they have support when they get here. I remind the hon. Gentleman that this country is the second biggest bilateral donor of humanitarian aid in the Syrian region, and we are able to support and provide for more people in-region, which I think is absolutely the right thing to do.