Alison McGovern – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Alison McGovern on 2016-09-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Government plans to publish a comprehensive plan for resettling 20,000 Syrian refugees in the UK by 2020.

Mr Robert Goodwill

We intend to resettle up to 20,000 Syrians in need of protection during this Parliament. We will continue to work closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to identify appropriate cases, prioritising the most vulnerable. The numbers resettled in a particular period will depend on a range of factors including the flow of referrals from 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 wellbeing of the people and communities involved, rather than rushing to meet arbitrary targets. However, we are clear that we want to help as many people as we can as quickly as possible.