Britain must resettle Syrian refugees faster to meet 20,000 target, National Audit Office says

The watchdog also said the Government had made no overall estimate of the cost of the scheme

The UK has effectively pledged to give refuge to 4,000 people each year (AFP/Getty)

The Government will have to quicken the pace at which it is resettling Syrian refugees to Britain in order to meet its own target, the National Audit Office has warned. In September 2015 David Cameron pledged to take in 20,000 of the most vulnerable Syrian refugees by 2020, effectively pledging the UK to help 4,000 people each year.

In a report released Tuesday morning, the spending and policy watchdog said the scheme had so far been a success and that early interim targets had been met by the Government.

But despite this the NAO warned that the programme would have to resettle more people each quarter than they had already done so far in order to meet the overall target to resettle 20,000 people by May 2020.

The watchdog also said that the Government had made no estimate of the total cost of the programme, because spending was scattered between difference central government departments and participating local authorities.

This could lead to resources becoming overstretched and bottlenecks forming in resettlement, Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, warned.

“The programme team achieved a great deal in a short amount of time, resettling much larger numbers of refugees than previous programmes, due in large part to the dedication and goodwill of those involved,” he said.

“The characteristics of the refugees arriving in the UK will become clearer over time. With this new information, the programme team must adapt budgets so that no organisation taking part in the programme struggles to participate effectively due to cost pressures,” Mr Morse added.

The warning by the NAO comes just over a year after the scheme was set up by the former prime minister Mr Cameron – and a day after Archbishop of Canterbury warned the Government’s response was “too slow, too low and too narrow”. A report by the Home Affairs Select Committee released in July suggested that the MPs were “concerned” that the target might not be met.

A year on from making the 20,000 pledge, the Home Office said it had given refuge to around 2,800 people – far fewer than the 4,000 a year needed to meet the commitment. In the fourth quarter of 2015 the UK accepted 1,085 – around the number required per quarter to hit the target. However, this rate of resettlement fell away quickly: in the first quarter of 2016 just 517 came to the UK.

Before Mr Cameron’s announcement an average of about 30 Syrian refugees per quarter were being taken in under the scheme – meaning there was a genuine increase.

2016 is set to be the deadliest year on record for Mediterranean Sea crossings to Europe by refugees, with aid workers on the ground warning there is no sign of the procession of people slowing.

The Home Office confirmed it remains committed to the 20,000 refugees targets.

A Government spokesperson said: "The NAO report rightly recognises that the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement (VPR) scheme in the UK was successfully expanded at speed, with good partnership working across central and local government. We remain on track to meet our commitment to resettle 20,000 refugees by the end of the Parliament.

“We have secured all the local authority pledges required to meet this commitment and the hard work across Government involving the devolved administrations and local authorities will continue until we have turned all of these pledges into places and resettled 20,000 people. This is a humanitarian programme and the level of funding enables local authorities to provide vulnerable refugees with a safe environment and the chance to rebuild their lives.

“We ask local authorities to consider carefully whether they have the necessary infrastructure and support networks before a resettlement occurs and we will only resettle individuals to a particular area once we've ensured these arrangements, including school places and housing, are in place.”