Update on Refugee Progress

Last week Parliament had the opportunity to debate the important work being done to implement the Prime Minister’s pledge to accept 20,000 refugees over the course of this parliament. A number of important milestones have been reached and work continues to ensure that we play our part.

 

On the 16^th of December the Prime Minster announced we’d met our commitment to resettle 1,000 Syrian refugees in the UK before the end of the year. In February we’ll be co-hosting a conference in London along with Germany, Kuwait, Norway and the United Nations on the ongoing Syria crisis. The ‘Supporting Syria and the Region’ conference will bring together world leaders, non-governmental organisations, the private sector and civil society, with the aim of raising significant new funding to meet the immediate and longer-term needs of those affected. The conference also intends to set goals on education and economic opportunities to transform the lives of refugees caught up in the Syrian crisis, and to support the countries hosting them. I welcome the progress which has been made and will be following the outcome of the conference closely.

 

As you may be aware, the UK’s policy is to only accept refugees directly from camps in the region, rather than from Europe. This is to ensure that we do not provide an incentive for traffickers to dupe more people into making the dangerous journey. Suitable cases are identified from UNHCR’s caseload of registered refugees. As part of the UN process, refugees are given an opportunity to indicate an interest in being resettled under our Vulnerable Person Resettlement programme. UNHCR identifies cases suitable for resettlement in the UK and refers them to the Home Office. The Home Office then makes further checks on the person’s eligibility before seeking to match them with a place in a local authority.

 

The programme prioritises support for women and children who are at risk; survivors of violence or torture; refugees with legal or physical protection needs, medical needs or disabilities; persons at risk due to their sexual orientation or gender identity; and refugees with family links in resettlement countries. Refugees are granted five years’ Humanitarian Protection status and have access to public funds and the labour market. They are eligible to apply for family reunion for immediate family members, in accordance with the Immigration Rules. The Government has indicated that at the end of the five years, they will be eligible to apply for settlement in the UK. I believe this is the right approach, which ensures support goes to those most in need, new arrivals are able to integrate into British society and families are kept together wherever possible.

 

Children in particular have suffered greatly as a result of the Syrian conflict, so I am extremely glad that the Government has asked the UNHCR to lead on a new initiative to resettle unaccompanied refugee children. In most cases the interests of children are best met in the region where they can remain close to surviving family members. However in cases where the advice of the UNHCR is that their needs should be met by resettlement here in the UK, we have a responsibility to ensure that vulnerable children, particularly orphans, are prioritised.

 

A new fund of up to £10 million has been created to support the needs of vulnerable refugee and migrant children who are already in Europe. The support will include identifying children who are in need, providing safe places for at risk children to stay, a database to help trace children to their families, and services such as counselling and legal advice. The Government has also committed to providing further resources to the European Asylum Support Office to help in hotspots such as Greece and Italy to help identify and register children at risk on first arrival in the EU. The UK has already sent experts to both countries to assist with the ongoing situation and the Home Secretary has asked Kevin Hyland, the Anti-Slavery Commissioner, to visit the area and assess what more can be done to ensure unaccompanied refugee children are protected from traffickers.

 

I think we can all agree that the generosity shown by British organisations and families who have offered to shelter Syrian refugees in their own properties has been extraordinary in sentiment and emblematic of British spirit. Norwich in particular has a fine history of providing welcome to those fleeing persecution. The Home Secretary is establishing a register of people and organisations who can provide housing for refugees to make this support a reality. A guide on what you can do to help was published in September last year and can be read here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/syria-refugees-what-you-can-do-to-help--2.

 

The Government is also developing a community sponsorship scheme, based on similar schemes in Canada and Australia, which allows individuals, charities, businesses, churches and other faith groups to support refugees directly. The international aid budget will be used to take the pressure away from local services and make sure councils have the money they need. I have written to Norfolk County Council to seek an update on how arrangements are progressing for us to house and support refugees; I will continue to monitor the situation to make sure we are doing what we can.

 

I hope you’ve found this update helpful. The scale of this challenge is unprecedented and I shall continue to follow the issue closely.