Stephen Timms – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Home Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Timms on 2015-12-08.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 3 December 2015 to Question 18222, if her Department will put procedures in place to ensure that family members who are not resettled together when they arrive in the UK under the vulnerable persons programme are able to maintain contact with each other.

Richard Harrington

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) identifies refugees for potential resettlement under the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement scheme using their vulnerability criteria, and submits cases for Home Office consideration. The UNHCR links family groups so we can seek to allocate them to the same local authority. We also try and place them close to any family members already residing in the UK.