Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to support the family members of applicants to the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy that remain in Afghanistan and were affected by the data leak of February 2022.

The previous Government established the Afghanistan Response Route (ARR) for individuals affected by the February 2022 data incident considered to be at highest risk as a result of the incident.

Under the scheme around 900 ARR principals are in Britain or in transit, with 3,600 family members.

As the Defence Secretary outlined in his statement, on 15 July 2025, the Ministry of Defence took action to notify as many of those affected as possible by the incident using the most recent contact details held by the department and provided security advice. An online self-checker tool and an Information Service Centre (ISC), which included 24/7 telephone and email support for all affected individuals, were also stood up to assist people in finding out whether they were affected by the data incident. The ISC continued for a number of months and was gradually wound down, in accordance with demand. It was closed in October 2025, but the online self-checker tool remains available on gov.uk.