MP urges Government to process applications of British Council contractors
Following his Urgent Question last week, John Baron MP continues to press the Government to process the applications of the British Council contractors. Despite undertakings from FCDO Ministers to work through these applications at pace, there has been no progress. Not a single person has been assisted out of Afghanistan via the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS) this year.
On Monday the British Council All-Party Parliamentary Group wrote to the Foreign Secretary about the contractors, and John has a Westminster Hall debate on this issue on 11th January.
John said,
“Unfortunately there has been no progress since my Urgent Question last Monday. The bureaucratic blockage in Whitehall means the contractors’ applications are stalled; meanwhile many of them continue to be in fear of their lives as the Taliban hunt for them.”
“I urge the Government to pull their fingers out – it can not take too long to process 200 applications – so we have some good news for the contractors and their families in time for Christmas.”
Notes to Editors:
- There are about 200 British Council contractors in Afghanistan, eligible to come to the UK under Pathway 3 of the ACRS.
- In September 90 of the contractors were told by the Government that they had a place on the scheme, pending a security check; they have heard nothing since. The rest have heard nothing at all in response to their applications.
- For more information, see John’s press release from 13th December [‘John Baron MP questions Minister on British Council contractors in Afghanistan’].
