Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase the number of safe routes into the country for those seeking asylum.

Since 2015 we have resettled more than 25,000 refugees through safe and legal resettlement routes direct from regions of conflict and instability - around half of whom were children. In addition to this our current family reunion policy has welcomed over 29,000 individuals to the UK in the last 5 years. The UK continues to welcome people through the global UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), as well as through the Community Sponsorship and Mandate Resettlement Schemes and our refugee family reunion policy. This commitment, alongside a fair but firm asylum system, will ensure we continue to offer safe and legal routes to the UK for refugees in need of protection.

The New Plan for Immigration will strengthen safe and legal protection routes to the UK by ensuring our resettlement schemes are accessible and fair, resettling refugees from countries where the need is greatest, increasing the integration support of those we welcome, increasing opportunities for community participation in resettlement, supporting access to work visas for highly skilled displaced people and providing more flexibility to help people in truly exceptional and compelling circumstances.