Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent discussions she has had with her counterparts in other European countries on the imposition of tighter border controls across Europe and the effective screening of Syrian refugees for connections to ISIS.

Effective management of European external borders is vital as part of a comprehensive response to the migrant situation and the UK continues to engage with European partners on measures to improve the security of borders and to identify those who may a pose a threat to our countries.

As set out in the response to PQ11691 answered on 19th October 2015, security is taken extremely seriously in cases referred to us for resettlement. We work closely with the UNHCR who have their own robust identification processes in place. When Syrian cases are referred by the UNHCR for our consideration under the Syrian Vulnerable Person Resettlement scheme they are screened and considered by the Home Office for suitability for entry to the UK: we retain the right to reject individuals on security, war crimes or other grounds. For reasons of national security, we cannot provide further on the details of the screening process itself.