Lord Roberts of Llandudno – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Roberts of Llandudno on 2016-09-12.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the announcement by the Home Office that they have secured the necessary places with councils and devolved administrations across the UK to settle 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020, whether the majority of those refugees will be settled in the UK by 2018; and if not, what steps they are taking to speed up the admissions process.

Baroness Williams of Trafford

The Government has been working with local authorities and devolved administrations across the UK in order to ensure we have the capacity and infrastructure to meet our commitment to resettle 20,000 vulnerable Syrians by the end of this Parliament and through these discussions local authorities have committed their involvement in the resettlement programme between now and 2020.

We are not complacent. There is still a significant amount of work to be done with regions and local authorities to turn these pledges into arrivals. But we are committed to resettling 20,000 vulnerable Syrian refugees by the end of this Parliament and we are on track to do that.

The numbers resettled in a particular period will depend on a range of factors including the flow of referrals from United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the field and the availability of suitable accommodation and care packages in the UK. We will manage the flows based on need and in support of the well-being of the people and communities involved, rather than rushing to meet arbitrary targets.