Helen Jones – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Helen Jones on 2016-04-15.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will extend the Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme to Yazidi women who are Iraqi victims of Daesh; and if she will make a statement.

James Brokenshire

Only the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) registered Syrian refugees are eligible under the Syrian Resettlement Scheme, which has been expanded to resettle up to 20,000 during this Parliament. We work closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to identify cases that they deem in need of resettlement according to seven agreed vulnerability criteria for the Syrian Resettlement Scheme.

There are no current plans to widen the Syrian Resettlement Scheme but it is operated in addition to our global resettlement schemes: Gateway and Mandate, which are not nationality specific. We also announced on 21 April a new Children at Risk Resettlement Scheme designed to resettle refugee children and their families designated by UNHCR as being at risk. This scheme is not nationality specific but is targeted at children in the Middle East and North Africa.