Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's guidance entitled, Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme Pathway 3: eligibility for British Council and GardaWorld contractors and Chevening Alumni, published on 13 June 2022, if she will make an assessment of the adequacy of the limit of 1,500 applicants to that pathway in meeting the needs of those eligible groups.

The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) will build upon the UK's continuing efforts to support those at risk. Through the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) over 9,500 eligible Afghan citizens and their family members have been approved for resettlement. The ACRS will see up to 20,000 people from Afghanistan and the region resettled to the UK over the coming years. Under the third Pathway, up to 1500 people will be referred for resettlement in the first year from three specific cohorts - eligible at-risk Chevening alumni and British Council and Gardaworld contractors. The capacity of the UK to resettle people under this scheme is not unlimited. However, beyond the first year of the third pathway, the Government will work with international partners and NGOs to welcome other groups of Afghans at risk.