My Lords, I thank all noble Lords who have spoken in this debate. I agree with almost everything that noble Lords have said. Our actions have spoken louder than our words in the last few months, in the efforts that have gone into helping those people most vulnerable in Afghanistan and getting them out. On government join-up, I could not agree more. We do not always do well on that as a Government but it is what we have attempted to do. It is undoubtedly true that MoD, FCDO and Home Office join-up has been crucial here. We have a proud history of supporting those in need of our protection and I understand and agree with the concerns that noble Lords have about the plight of the people from Afghanistan.
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I turn first to Amendment 177, on putting the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme on a statutory footing; this is probably the one thing I do not agree with, given how we operate as a Government and the flexibility we need to adjust to different crises and situations around the world. During Op Pitting, the Government and military worked around the clock to airlift about 15,000 people out of Afghanistan; it was the biggest airlift from a single country in a generation. We have relocated thousands of people who loyally served our military in Afghanistan and continue to help more.
In addition, the ACRS has now commenced—it includes female judges, whom the noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy of The Shaws, and I are so concerned to help. As the noble Lord, Lord Coaker, said, it will provide 20,000 people at risk with a new life in the UK. We initially planned for 5,000 people in the first year; we have exceeded that and now have 6,500. The timescale for the 20,000 will depend on national and local authority capacity to support that resettlement. I know that he will understand that. As to the point of the noble Lord, Lord Kerr, they will all receive ILR—that is quite clear.
The reason why we keep this non-legislative, operating completely outside the Immigration Rules and on a discretionary basis, is that it provides flexibility to respond to changing international events—and there is absolutely no doubt that they are changing rapidly. Placing the ACRS on a statutory footing might make it more difficult for us to respond flexibly when and if we need to, which was essential in the aftermath of the Afghan crisis.
We play a leading role as one of the world’s largest refugee resettlement states. However, we cannot provide protection through resettlement to absolutely everyone, as I think the Committee recognises. It is essential that any decisions regarding resettlement take that capacity consideration into account.
The purpose of the ACRS, as noble Lords know, is to provide a route to safety for those at risk and in need of protection due to the situation in Afghanistan, rather than to provide a route to family reunion. This is because those routes already exist; I will say more about them in a minute. There are established family routes for both refugees and non-refugees resident in the UK to bring eligible family members here. The UK has a generous approach; since 2015, we have granted more than 39,000 refugee family reunion visas, over half of them to children.
This amendment seeks to bring the ACRS into force within 30 days from the date of Royal Assent to this Bill. However, as I am sure the Committee will understand, it is already in operation, having commenced last month.
Amendment 193A from the noble Baroness, Lady D’Souza, is on the Afghan relocations and assistance policy. We remain eternally grateful to all those Afghan nationals who put their lives at risk working for or alongside the UK military and UK government departments in Afghanistan. They were critical to our safety and mission over 20 years and it is absolutely
right that they and their family members are now supported by the UK. That is why the ARAP scheme was established last April; it has already seen over 8,000 people relocated in the UK, many as part of the 15,000 people that we safely evacuated from Afghanistan last summer. Rightly, eligibility for ARAP has already been expanded several times since it was launched: first, to include people who had resigned from service; then to include people who had been dismissed for all but serious or criminal offences; and then last December to include people who had worked alongside, rather than directly for, Her Majesty’s Government, and their non-Afghan family members. The effect of the changes has been significantly to expand eligibility for the scheme, which I remind noble Lords is neither capped nor time limited.