Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will consider establishing an emergency (a) telephone helpline and (b) email address for hon Members who wish to make enquiries on behalf of (i) UK citizens seeking to return to the UK and (ii) Afghan nationals seeking safe passage to the UK following the fall of the previous Afghan government.

As the Minister of State for the Middle East and North Africa said in the House on 15 September, during the evacuation operation alone the FCDO received over 200,000 emails. Responding to cases and correspondence from hon. Members is a priority for this Government. We took, and still take seriously, our duty to look into every single case raised by a Member. Where members of the public and MPs have written, either through the help@fcdo.gov.uk mailbox, or through standard FCDO correspondence, these have been triaged and the details logged. MPs also have access to the MP hotline and FCDO staff continue to follow up on urgent cases.