Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to help ensure that Jobcentre Plus services meet the needs of disabled refugees.
Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Housing, Communities and Local Government)
DWP works with partners and services to meet the needs of disabled refugees. This includes working with Migrant Help, the Refugee Employment Network; Home Office refugee liaison officers; referring to alternative provisions including English language provision; and sign posting to the Home Office Refugee Employability Programme.
The Department is committed to promoting a just, equal, and inclusive society, ensuring independence and control for all customers, including disabled individuals and those with complex needs.
DWP provides a range of support to help refugees and those on Afghan and Ukraine Schemes to settle in the community and find work, including access to mainstream Jobcentre services which provide individually tailored benefit and work support.
Jobcentres also work locally with partners and employers to support this group into work. Connect to Work, part of the Government’s Get Britain Working strategy, will provide support to disabled people, people with health conditions and those with complex barriers to employment, including refugees and those on resettlement schemes, to get into work.
The Government is dedicated to championing the rights of disabled people and involving them in designing our reforms. All new Work Coaches and Disability Employment Advisors receive training to support all claimants, with specialist support available from Disability Employment Advisers to tailor assistance for disabled customers. These advisers also offer direct support to those with long-term health conditions needing bespoke assistance
In addition, the Department will launch a new coaching academy to enhance the skills of Work Coaches and provide further support to customers, including those with disabilities. This initiative will be evaluated and reviewed regularly to ensure training remains relevant and effective.
Additional Work Coach Support provides disabled people and people with health conditions, with increased one-to-one personalised support from their work coach to help them move towards, and into work. Support is now available in all Jobcentres across England, Scotland and Wales. This personalised support from Work Coaches aims to enable disabled people to access employment, wider support including our employment programmes earlier.
Asked by: Zöe Franklin (Liberal Democrat - Guildford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to support the Community Sponsorship scheme for refugees.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Immigration White Paper, published on 12 May 2025, announced a review of our existing refugee sponsorship and resettlement schemes to develop a more cost-effective and sustainable framework which will deliver better outcomes for refugees and the communities in which they live.
Asked by: Lisa Smart (Liberal Democrat - Hazel Grove)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to introduce a (a) fast-track and (b) expedited process for applications to the Displaced Talent Mobility Scheme for people seeking refuge from (i) war zones and (ii) crisis situations.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Immigration White Paper, published on 12 May, announced a review of the UK’s existing refugee resettlement and sponsorship schemes. This will ensure that there is a framework which will allow businesses, universities and communities to sponsor refugees to live, work and study in the UK. Further details will be set out in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Hoey (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many asylum seekers and refugees have been dispersed by the Home Office to Northern Ireland in each of the past five years, and how many from Syria, Afghanistan, Hong Kong and Ukraine in the relevant official schemes.
Answered by Lord Hanson of Flint - Minister of State (Home Office)
The number of supported asylum seekers and refugees in Northern Ireland in each of the past five years were as follows:
Immigration group | As at 31 March 2021 | As at 31 March 2022 | As at 31 March 2023 | As at 31 March 2024 | As at 31 March 2025 |
Supported Asylum seekers | 912 | 1,404 | 3,030 | 2,765 | 2,637 |
Afghan Resettlement Programme | Scheme not open | Data not available | Data not available | 203 | 305 |
Homes for Ukraine (arrivals) | Scheme not open | Data not available | Data not available | 1,502 | 1,949 |
Please note that Asylum seekers are accommodated in Northern Ireland only if they apply for asylum there. These figures are a snapshot as at 31 March for the last 5 years.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential implications for her policies of the lessons learned from international examples of the use of limited humanitarian visas to allow people to apply for asylum from their country of origin.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK has a proud history of providing protection for those who need it through a number of safe and legal routes. However, there is no provision within our Immigration Rules for someone to be allowed to travel to the UK to seek asylum or temporary refuge. Whilst we sympathise with people in many difficult situations around the world, we are not bound to consider asylum claims from the very large numbers of people overseas who might like to come here. Those who need international protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach – that is the fastest route to safety.
The UK continues to welcome refugees and people in need through our existing global resettlement schemes which include the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), Community Sponsorship and the Mandate Resettlement Scheme. Alongside these schemes, we operate specific schemes for those fleeing Ukraine and Afghanistan, and an immigration route for British National (overseas) status holders from Hong Kong.
There are additional safe and legal routes for people to come to the UK should they wish to join family members here, work or study.
Asked by: Bell Ribeiro-Addy (Labour - Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of using limited humanitarian visas to allow people to apply for asylum from their country of origin.
Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The UK has a proud history of providing protection for those who need it through a number of safe and legal routes. However, there is no provision within our Immigration Rules for someone to be allowed to travel to the UK to seek asylum or temporary refuge. Whilst we sympathise with people in many difficult situations around the world, we are not bound to consider asylum claims from the very large numbers of people overseas who might like to come here. Those who need international protection should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach – that is the fastest route to safety.
The UK continues to welcome refugees and people in need through our existing global resettlement schemes which include the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), Community Sponsorship and the Mandate Resettlement Scheme. Alongside these schemes, we operate specific schemes for those fleeing Ukraine and Afghanistan, and an immigration route for British National (overseas) status holders from Hong Kong.
There are additional safe and legal routes for people to come to the UK should they wish to join family members here, work or study.
Asked by: Phil Brickell (Labour - Bolton West)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans her Department has to issue guidance to (a) refugees and (b) BN(O) visa holders in the United Kingdom on the potential impact of its White Paper entitled Restoring control over the immigration system, published 12 May 2025, on the pathways to (i) citizenship and (ii) indefinite leave to remain.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The White Paper commits to a review of our existing refugee sponsorship and resettlement schemes. Further information on the reviews will be provided in due course.
The Government is committed to supporting members of the Hong Kong community who have relocated to the UK and those who may come here in future.
Further details of all measures announced in the Immigration White Paper will be set out in the normal way in due course. Where necessary, measures will be subject to consultation.
Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds Central and Headingley)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to provide an additional resettlement quota for Afghan refugees in Pakistan identified by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for resettlement.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
Between 2021 and March 2025, over 34,000 individuals have been resettled and relocated through the Afghan Resettlement Programme. The latest immigration statistics can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/immigration-system-statistics-year-ending-march-2025.
The Government’s priority remains the resettlement and relocation of those already identified as eligible but who have not yet travelled.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Yazidis have been resettled to the UK from (a) Iraq and (b) Syria in each year since 2014.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The UK partners with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to resettle refugees in accordance with their standard resettlement criteria.
Individual ethnic and religious backgrounds are not part of this consideration, and the Home Office does not therefore collate or publish this information.
Asked by: Suella Braverman (Conservative - Fareham and Waterlooville)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has made an estimate of the proportion of UNHCR recognised refugees by country that would be resettled in the UK under the Restoring control over the immigration system: white paper.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Immigration White Paper, published on 12 May 2025, announced new measures on a wide range of issues, including the rules on citizenship and refugee settlement, further details of which will be set out in due course.