MP: Minister must answer questions in Parliament
On Wednesday afternoon the FCDO Minister, Leo Docherty MP, responded to John Baron MP’s Westminster Hall debate on the British Council contractors in Afghanistan (please see his press release for more information). Overall, the Minister’s statements were encouraging, suggesting that around half of the 200 contractors, and their families, who are in danger from the Taliban could now make their way to the border to leave, that a lack of paperwork should not impede their exit, that of the remaining half, 47 have been contacted and that talk of a 1,500 quota would not stop any of these people being helped.
However, yesterday evening the FCDO issued a wide-ranging correction to the Minister’s statements in response to a journalist following up on the debate – please see below for more details. John was not contacted by the FCDO directly.
John said,
“I am appalled by these developments – about which no-one in Government thought to inform me before the press contacted me last night. I am still yet to receive an e-mail confirming the details of the FCDO’s corrections, despite ‘phoning the Minister last night.”
“It is deeply frustrating that the FCDO has issued a set of corrections which repudiate almost all of the assurances given by the Minister in response to my detailed and specific questions in our debate on Wednesday. Most gravely, it will have caused real concern and confusion to the contractors and their families in Afghanistan who follow developments closely for obvious reasons.”
“The Minister must urgently correct the record, preferably via a Statement in the Commons – we need to question why there is this confusion in Government and the way forward.”
“The British Council All-Party Parliamentary Group will continue to explore all avenues to support the contractors, both inside and outside Parliament, as it is painfully clear that almost all of our concerns raised in the debate remain unresolved.”
Notes to Editors:
- John is chair of the British Council All-Party Parliamentary Group.
- The Westminster Hall debate transcript is available online at: https://bit.ly/3QG0Bpt.
- In the debate, the Minister said that 90 of the contractors had had their applications under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) granted and that they were ready to come to the UK. The FCDO’s correction states that actually only 47 of these 90 have this clearance, the others waiting for security checks to be completed.
- In the debate, the Minister said that, of the roughly 100 contractors who had not yet heard anything about their applications, 47 had recently been contacted. The FCDO’s correction says this is incorrect and that all these contractors are still waiting to hear anything from the Government.
- In the debate, the Minister confirmed that the Government is working with third countries, including Pakistan, to facilitate cross-border travel for those who do not have travel documents. The FCDO’s correction says there are no current plans to do so.
- In the debate, the Minister said that the quota of 1,500 people under the ACRS should not be seen as an ‘upper limit’, and that further spaces will be available later this year. The FCDO’s correction confirmed that the quota is an upper limit and said there are as yet no decisions about making further spaces available.
- The Guardian’s article on these developments is online at: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/jan/12/british-council-contractors-afghanistan-allowed-to-come-to-uk.
- The Daily Mail’s article on these developments is online at: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11629627/Minister-makes-inaccurate-statement-Afghans-granted-sanctuary-UK.html.
