Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 22 November 2021 to Question 76797 on Human Trafficking: English Channel, what recent assessment she has made of the contribution of safe routes for people seeking asylum in tackling crossings facilitated by criminal gangs.

The UK has a long history of supporting those in need of protection. Our resettlement schemes have provided safe and legal routes for tens of thousands of people to start new lives in the UK.

So far this year, we have resettled over 9,700 people at risk through the Afghan Relocation and Assistance Policy, UK Resettlement Scheme, Community Sponsorship and Mandate Resettlement Schemes in addition to more than 25,000 people since 2015.

The Hong Kong British National (Overseas) route has also provided a route to British Citizenship for over 76,000 people since it opened on 31 January. When the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme opens, it will see up to 20,000 people at risk resettled to the UK, with 5,000 arriving in the first year.

Those seeking asylum should claim in the first safe country –this is the fastest route to safety. There is no need to make the dangerous journey across the English Channel from European nations which are safe and democratic, with fully functioning asylum systems.