Question to the Home Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to use the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme as a model for the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme.

The Government has committed to welcoming around 5,000 people in the first year of the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) - and up to 20,000 over the coming years. The ACRS will be partly modelled on the successful Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS), which resettled over 20,000 refugees fleeing the Syrian conflict, over a seven-year period from 2014 to 2021. Further information on the eligibility, prioritisation and referral of people for the ACRS is set out under the Afghanistan resettlement and immigration policy statement published on gov.uk on 13 September

The VPRS is now closed. The selection criteria used for the VPRS is replicated for the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), this information is available on gov.uk.

Evaluation of the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (VPRS), and also the Vulnerable Children’s Resettlement Scheme (VCRS), is ongoing. The UK Government’s strategy for evaluating the delivery and effectiveness of the VPRS and VCRS is outlined on gov.uk.

The VPRS was also twice inspected by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration, in 2018 and 2020, with a number of recommendations accepted and implemented. Details of the inspections, and report overviews can also be found on gov.uk.