Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will provide the (a) criteria and (b) arrangements for evacuating students from Gaza to the relevant (i) universities and (ii) hon. Members.

I refer the Honourable Member to the previous Home Secretary’s oral statement to the House on 1 September 2025 on strengthening border security and reforms to the asylum system. Further details will be set out in due course.

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 Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office 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.