John Baron MP raises Point of Order on ARAP Scheme

MP highlighted plight of British Council workers in Afghanistan

Yesterday in the House of Commons, John Baron MP raised a Point of Order with the Speaker to highlight a meeting he had been promised by the Defence Secretary on 15th November about the plight of the 200 Afghans who worked with the British Council. The meeting is yet to take place.

In the Chamber, John said,

“At defence questions on 15th November, I raised the plight of nearly 200 Afghans who had worked with the British Council but are still hiding in Afghanistan in fear of their lives, moving from safe house to safe house, often with no money, as they flee the Taliban. These individuals are eligible for the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy scheme, but are facing long delays in their applications being processed. At defence questions, the Secretary of State committed to arranging a meeting with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the Home Office, but despite regular chasing through the normal channels, this still has not taken place.”

“Mr Speaker, I seek your guidance as to how we can ensure that this meeting takes place, because a number of us across this place want to ask why there is such a delay in the processing of applications. I opposed and voted against the Afghanistan intervention once al-Qaeda were evicted, but I believe we are compounding our error by not honouring our debt of honour to these individuals – and it needs to be put right now.”

The Speaker responded that he was sorry to learn that the meeting has not yet taken place, despite it being offered a month ago, and that he expected the meeting to take place as soon as possible. If the meeting does not happen, Mr Speaker would like to know about it.

John said afterwards,

“It is unacceptable that Afghans who are eligible for the ARAP scheme are still waiting for answers on their applications four months after the Taliban took over. I will continue to chase the Government for this meeting.”