Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how her Department plans to determine the level of the annual cap on the number of refugees who will be allowed to settle in the UK.

As the Home Secretary set out in her 7 March 2023 statement, the Illegal Migration Bill will introduce an annual cap, to be agreed by Parliament, on the number of refugees the UK will resettle via safe and legal routes. This cap will be amendable in response to humanitarian emergencies, and, in setting the cap, we will engage with local authorities to determine their capacity to accommodate and support individuals.

Our intention, as outlined in the Bill, is to engage with relevant organisations as necessary to understand the UK’s capacity to accommodate and support those who arrive on safe and legal routes. The annual cap pertains exclusively to safe and legal routes and does not apply to asylum seekers.