Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) RAF and (b) UK Government funded commercial flights have taken off from Pakistan each month carrying eligible Afghan nationals under the (i) ARAP and (ii) ACRS schemes since the end of Operation PITTING in August 2021.

Since September 2021, 39 Government-funded flights have been organised by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to relocate Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) eligible individuals to the UK. This figure includes both RAF Voyager flights and civilian charter flights. The monthly breakdown is captured in the table below. In addition to the below, some individuals have relocated to the UK on commercial flights with their travel funded by HM Government.

As stated by the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs in the House on 8 November, we were aiming to relocate 2,800 ARAP eligible people from Pakistan between October 2023 and the end of 2023 and are on target to deliver this commitment, with over 2,000 having arrived so far. More flights are scheduled throughout the remainder of December.

For the separate Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS), flights and travel assistance are arranged by the Home Office and its partners, including the International Organization for Migration.