Maria Eagle – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Maria Eagle on 2015-10-22.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many locally-employed Afghan interpreters who worked alongside the British Army have (a) approached the Government for help and (b) been resettled in the UK under his Department’s intimidation policy.

Penny Mordaunt

Since June 2013 around 330 locally employed staff have approached our dedicated team in Kabul for assistance under the Government’s Intimidation Policy. As the Intimidation Policy is open to all staff, regardless of their role, not all of these staff are interpreters: they carried out a variety of roles in support of our operation in Afghanistan. All cases are investigated thoroughly by experienced and trained police officers, in the majority the risk can be successfully mitigated in country, through provision of bespoke security advice and guidance to the former staff member. We consider relocation to the UK if it is assessed the individual would not be safe if they remained in Afghanistan. We have offered financial support to over 30 staff to move to a new location within Afghanistan to maintain their safety, and one former staff member has been relocated to the UK.