Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many Afghan nationals with UK visas who served (a) as interpreters and (b) in other locally employed staff roles are in Afghanistan as of 6 December 2021; and what steps her Department is taking to facilitate the return of those people to the UK.

At the end of Operation Pitting 311 principals called forward to Hamid Karzai Airport under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme had not been evacuated. 99 of them are now in the UK and 45 in third countries. Helping all those who want to leave Afghanistan and who are eligible to come to the UK remains a priority. The Government has made clear to the Taliban the need to ensure safe passage of those entitled to go to another country. The Joint Afghanistan Casework Unit, staffed by officials from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, Home Office and Ministry of Defence, is taking forward the UK's commitment to resettle those eligible to come to the UK. The ARAP scheme remains open.