Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-01-14.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what measures the Government has put in place to ensure that the resettlement programme in Lebanon and Jordan is able to identify the most vulnerable people.

James Brokenshire

We work closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to identify cases that they deem in need of resettlement according to agreed vulnerability criteria for the Syrian Resettlement Scheme. The scheme was expanded in September 2015 to ensure more of those in the greatest need are resettled in the UK.

We are working with UNHCR to intensify their outreach and identification activities in the region, including in Jordan and the Lebanon; to encourage and invite all unregistered populations to avail themselves of UNHCR’s services either by directly approaching UNHCR to register with them or by referral via a third organisation.

We are also working with confessional groups and Diaspora communities here and in the region to maximise their awareness of UNHCR’s global mandate and scope for resettlement opportunities and/or to refer any unregistered person to UNHCR for registration and potential assessment according to criteria.