Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of including Afghan journalists previously employed by the BBC in the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy and Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme for British Council staff and contractors.

To qualify for relocation under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP), Afghan nationals must have worked in exposed, meaningful or enabling roles in ways which made a material difference to the delivery of the UK mission in Afghanistan (e.g. linguistic services to UK Armed Forces). Eligibility for the scheme has been extended several times since it launched in April 2021 and there are no plans to extend it further.

Approximately 100 Afghan journalists have been evacuated and brought to safety since Operation Pitting, in August 2021.

The Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) will provide up to 20,000 women, children, and others at risk with a safe and legal route to resettle in the UK.

Under Pathway three of ACRS in the first year, the government is honouring its commitment to resettlement by offering places for up to 1,500 eligible individuals from the following groups: British Council contractors, Gardaworld contractors or Chevening alumni.

Beyond the first year of the third pathway, the government will work with international partners and NGOs to welcome wider groups of Afghans at risk.