Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what estimate he has made of the number of Afghan interpreters who have settled in the UK in the last ten years.

As at the 15 July 2021 through our relocation schemes, 1,646 former staff including their families have relocated to the UK so far, with several thousand more due to arrive over the summer. These have arrived through either the Ex Gratia Scheme (EGS), the Intimidation policy or the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy (ARAP).

The EGS launched on 4 June 2013 with the first relocations occurring in August 2014. To date, under EGS 484 Afghan local staff have relocated to the UK, the majority of which were interpreters.

The ARAP launched on 1 April 2021, under the ARAP, 22 Local Staff have relocated to the UK. We are rapidly accelerating relocations under the ARAP, with thousands more Afghans and their families due to arrive in the UK over the Summer.