A government-led, confidential relocation program established in response to the Afghan data leak has an unquantifiable total cost, according to the public spending watchdog.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) estimates the cost of the data breach, alongside the creation of a new relocation scheme for individuals whose lives were potentially endangered, to be £850 million.
However, the National Audit Office (NAO) reports that the MoD has not provided sufficient substantiation to confidently endorse this figure, which excludes anticipated legal expenses and compensation claims.
The MoD has affirmed its commitment to transparency and to “honouring the moral obligation we owe to those Afghans who stood with us and risked their lives”.
Last month, details of nearly 19,000 individuals who had applied to relocate to the UK to escape the Taliban were revealed. The information was leaked in 2022 when an official mistakenly sent an email containing a spreadsheet with a hidden tab containing sensitive data.
The compromised data included names, contact information, and family details of individuals who believed their cooperation with British forces during the Afghanistan war exposed them to potential retribution.
The data breach also included the names of British officials, including members of UK special forces.
Over 16,000 Afghans and their family members were eligible for resettlement under an existing relocation program.
Following the data breach, the Afghanistan Response Route (ARR), a new scheme, was discreetly established in April 2024, allowing an additional 7,000 individuals to enter the UK.
A super-injunction, granted by the High Court in September 2023, prohibited the reporting of the incident for nearly two years, before being lifted in July.
The MoD estimates the cost of resettling each individual to be £128,000, with the total expenditure for all Afghan resettlement programs projected to exceed £2 billion.
In its report, the NAO stated that the government had not presented sufficient evidence to afford the watchdog “confidence” in the accuracy of its £850 million estimate.
The watchdog noted: “The MoD is unable to precisely determine its expenditure on resettling individuals through the ARR scheme.”
“This is due to the fact that the costs of the ARR scheme were not separately identified in its accounting system, thus these costs were not visible in its management accounts, but instead included within its total spending on Afghan resettlement activities.”
A spokesperson for the MoD stated: “We are committed to honouring the moral obligation we owe to those Afghans who stood with us and risked their lives.”
“Since making the decision to support the lifting of the super injunction brought by the previous government, we have been clear on the costs associated with relocating eligible Afghans to the UK – and are fully committed to transparency.”
“The cost of all Afghan resettlement schemes, including the Afghan Response Route, has been fully funded as part of the Government’s Spending Review.”
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