Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many local authorities have taken on Afghan refugee families; and how many of these families are still in (1) hotels, or (2) guest houses; and how many children in these families have not yet been found school places.

We continue to work with local authorities to source appropriate accommodation as quickly as possible for Afghan families who were evacuated to the UK.

There are more than 11,000 individuals accommodated temporarily in bridging hotels across the UK, who were evacuated as part of Operation Pitting. Children who have recently arrived from Afghanistan are entitled to a full time education and one of our priorities is to ensure they receive it. The duty to provide sufficient education for all school-age children rests with local authorities and the government is working closely with local authorities in whose areas Afghan families are resident to ensure they can access education as soon as possible.

In addition, we are urgently making available additional funds to support local authorities to provide educational support and help Afghan children and young people settle into their local schools and communities.

The Minister of State for Prisons and Afghan Resettlement provided an update to the House of Commons in a Dear Colleague letter last week, and she will continue to update the House at regular intervals.