Asked by: Lord Hylton (Crossbench - Excepted Hereditary)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they intend to have with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees regarding (1) the need for food and medical supplies for, and (2) the plans for resettlement of, the approximately 7,500 internally displaced people in the Rukban Camp on the Syria/Jordan border.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The situation in Rukban is an issue the UK Government continues to discuss with the UN as well as raising in multilateral fora such as the UN Security Council and the Humanitarian Task Force in Geneva. We will continue to advocate for unimpeded, unfettered aid access across the whole of Syria including Rukban and remain grateful for the UN's continued work to find a solution to an extremely challenging situation. We will continue to engage with the UN to ensure that any movement of camp residents to other parts of Syria is safe, voluntary and informed.
Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to open up safe routes for people seeking refuge to come to the UK.
Answered by Robert Jenrick - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
The UK has a proud record of providing protection for people fleeing war and persecution. Between 2015 and December 2022, just under half a million (481,804) people were offered safe and legal routes into the UK.
In addition to dedicated resettlement schemes for Syria, Afghanistan, Hong Kong and Ukraine, the UK has welcomed refugees and people in need around the world through the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS), Community Sponsorship, the Mandate Resettlement Scheme, and Family Reunion.
It is not right that control of national borders should be suspended to allow people who have already reached safety in countries with fully functioning asylum systems, to travel further to another country as a matter of preference. This undermines the broader immigration system, and encourages people to fund criminal gangs and to risk their lives trying to get to the UK in unseaworthy vessels or packed dangerously into cars and lorries. Moreover, it diverts our finite resources from those who are most in need of assistance.
As outlined by the Prime Minister, as we tackle illegal migration, we will be able to bring forward more safe and legal routes.
Asked by: Stuart C McDonald (Scottish National Party - Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential link between the level of UK aid spending between 2020 and 2021 on the spread of antimicrobial resistance and the risk of drug-resistant infections in refugee camps in low and middle-income countries.
Answered by John Glen
In 2021, the UK was the third largest development donor in the G7 as a percentage of GNI, spending over £11 billion on aid. The UK is committed to the global eradication of antimicrobial resistance and supports a wide range of activities to do this.
Through our £265m ODA Fleming Fund, the UK builds partnerships with LMICs to strengthen AMR surveillance, diagnostics and laboratory capacity. The Global AMR Innovation Fund (GAMRIF), another UK aid fund, supports early-stage innovative research in underfunded areas of AMR research and development for the benefit of people in low- and middle-income countries.
We have also used our aid budget to reduce the risks of antimicrobial resistance by helping prevent the emergence and spread of infectious diseases. Between April 2020 and December 2021, in partnership with Unilever the UK reached over 4 million refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) with handwashing messages to prevent the spread of infection in countries such as Bangladesh, Cameroon, Syria, South Sudan and Yemen. The UK also supports the work of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organisation for Migration and the Red Cross Movement, each of which include work on water, sanitation and hygiene as part of their programming and support displaced persons, including refugees and migrants in camps.
Asked by: Alex Norris (Labour (Co-op) - Nottingham North and Kimberley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of support available for refugees following earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.
Answered by Andrew Mitchell
We are closely monitoring events in Turkey and are coordinating with the Turkish authorities, the UN and NGO partners to ensure aid reaches those most in need, including minority communities and refugees in Turkey, and displaced persons in Syria. The UN-brokered agreement to open additional border crossings into northwest Syria for an initial period of three months is crucial to reaching the many displaced there. Even before the 6 February earthquake, the UN assessed 15.3 million Syrians required humanitarian assistance. For this reason, the UK has committed £3.8 billion in humanitarian aid to the Syria crisis since 2012. This includes £2.1 billion to support the over 5.5 million refugees in the region, including 3.6 million Syrian refugees in Turkey, and their host communities. The UK remains committed to continuing to provide support for both Turkish host communities and Syrian refugees in response to the sustained pressures they face.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what estimate his Department has made of the number of refugees who have entered Lebanon as a result of conflict in Syria.
Answered by David Rutley
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) provides authoritative assessments on displacement. It estimates there are over 6.6 million Syrian refugees worldwide, of which 5.5 million are hosted in countries near Syria, notably Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan. The Lebanese Government estimates there are 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon. The Lebanese Government instructed UNHCR to suspend the new registration of refugees at the beginning of 2015 and we have urged the Lebanese government to enable refugee registration by UNHCR to resume. Accurate registration of refugees facilitates international support and is in everyone's interest.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Home Office:
To the Secretary of State for the Home Office, if she will publish a copy of her Department's questionnaire to be completed by refugees from (a) Afghanistan, (b) Eritrea, (c) Libya, (d) Syria and (e) Yemen as an alternative to being interviewed.
Answered by Robert Jenrick - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
There are no plans to publish the questionnaire at this time; instead, it will be sent to eligible claimants from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Libya Syria and Yemen
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he plans to increase his Department's funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.
Answered by David Rutley
We are longstanding supporters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). We recognise that UNRWA needs to be on a more secure financial footing to ensure that Palestinian refugees' basic needs are met. To that end, the UK is working with UNRWA and other donors to help ensure its sustainability. In the financial year 2022/2023, the UK provided UNRWA with £18.7 million, including £13 million for UNRWA's programme budget for spend in OPTs, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria; £2 million for work in Gaza and £3.7 million for food assistance - both under UNRWA's OPTs emergency appeal. Decisions on funding for FY 23/24 have not yet been finalised.
Asked by: Brendan O'Hara (Scottish National Party - Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of funding provided by his Department to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees.
Answered by David Rutley
We are longstanding supporters of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). We recognise that UNRWA needs to be on a more secure financial footing to ensure that Palestinian refugees' basic needs are met. To that end, the UK is working with UNRWA and other donors to help ensure its sustainability. In the financial year 2022/2023, the UK provided UNRWA with £18.7 million, including £13 million for UNRWA's programme budget for spend in OPTs, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria; £2 million for work in Gaza and £3.7 million for food assistance - both under UNRWA's OPTs emergency appeal. Decisions on funding for FY 23/24 have not yet been finalised.
Asked by: Alexander Stafford (Conservative - Rother Valley)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make an estimate of the number of Syrian refugees who have yet to return to Syria.
Answered by David Rutley
The UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, provides authoritative assessments on displacement. It estimates there are over 6.6 million Syrian refugees worldwide, of which 5.5 million are hosted in countries near Syria, notably Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.
The UK is grateful for the role refugee-hosting countries play. We will continue to provide support to displaced population, including in response to the 6 February earthquake, which has affected Syrians in both Turkey and Syria itself. We urge the Asad regime to engage meaningfully with the UN-facilitated political process in order to achieve conditions suitable for safe refugee returns.
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of Syrian refugees in the UK.
Answered by Robert Jenrick - Shadow Secretary of State for Justice
The Home Office publishes data on asylum and resettlement in the ‘Immigration Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on grants of refugee status and resettlement for Syrian nationals can be found in table Asy_D02 of the ‘asylum and resettlement detailed datasets’. Information on how to use the datasets can be found in the ‘Notes’ page of the workbooks. The latest data relate to the year ending September 2022. Data for the year ending December 2022 will be published on 23 February 2023. Information on future Home Office statistical release dates can be found in the ‘Research and statistics calendar’.
The Home Office does not hold information on the number of people resettled or granted refugee status who are still living in the UK, or their location within the UK. This is because the Home Office does not track the addresses of those resettled or granted refugee status, and refugees are free to move around the UK or leave.