Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will re-assess the procedures established to review the numbers of Syrians offered resettlement places in the UK as part of the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation scheme to ensure that the scheme is responsive to need.

The Government is deeply concerned about the crisis in Syria, the suffering and hardship it is causing for millions of displaced Syrians in the region, and the strain it is placing on their host countries. Given the scale of the crisis,
we believe the most effective way to ensure the UK’s help has the greatest impact for displaced people and their host countries is through substantial humanitarian aid and actively seeking an end to the conflict so that refugees
can return to their homes and livelihoods safely. We have committed £700 million in response to the crisis, making us the second largest bilateral donor after the USA, and UK taxpayers' money is helping to support hundreds of
thousands of displaced people in the region, providing food, healthcare and essential supplies. Compared with aid, resettlement can only ever help a minority of those in need.

We launched the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Relocation (VPR) scheme to complement our humanitarian aid efforts by offering protection in the UK to some of the most vulnerable refugees, who cannot be supported effectively in
the region. The scheme is based on need rather than fulfilling a quota, but we have said that we expect it to help several hundred people over three years, and we remain on track to deliver that commitment. We therefore have no current plans to change the way the scheme operates. However, we continue to monitor the situation in Syria and the surrounding region and work closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to identify the most
vulnerable people displaced by the conflict to ensure that the scheme remains responsive to need.