Question to the Home Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many referrals were made by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to (1) the UK Resettlement Scheme, (2) Community Sponsorship, (3) the Mandate Resettlement Scheme, and (4) the Family Reunion Scheme, in each of the past three years; and how many referrals were not accepted in each of those schemes.

Between 2015 and March 2023, just over half a million people were offered safe and legal routes into the UK. This includes those from Hong Kong, Syria, Afghanistan, and Ukraine, as well as family members of refugees, alongside our global resettlement schemes. The UK continues to welcome refugees and people in need through existing resettlement schemes and is one of the largest recipients of UNHCR referred refugees globally, second only to Sweden in Europe since 2015.

Under these schemes, the UNHCR will refer refugees for resettlement after undertaking an assessment of people’s needs and vulnerabilities. The UK does not seek to influence which cases are referred by the UNHCR under these global schemes.

Family Reunion is not referral based. It is an application based route.