Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to support Palestinian students in Gaza who have been offered places at UK universities to (a) complete visa biometric enrolment requirements, (b) travel safely to a visa application centre in a third country and (c) take up those university places in the 2025-26 academic year.

The Home Office has put in place systems to issue expedited visas, with biometric checks conducted prior to arrival for all Chevening Scholars from Gaza.

We are in the process of doing the same for a group of students who have been awarded fully funded scholarships covering course fees and living costs at UK universities so they can start their studies in Autumn 2025.

The Government is doing everything it can to support their safe exit and onward travel to the UK. The situation on the ground in Gaza makes this extremely challenging.