This evening we visited the UK's Embassy in Jordan and held discussions with the lead for the UK's Department of International Development programme in Jordan. With over £1bl of aid being delivered from the UK to help Syrian refugees, this department plays a crucial role in helping to keep Syrian refugees safe and secure.

From what we have seen, it is apparent that great strides are being made in the fields of education and employment for Syrian refugees and more should be made in time. The UK's £80m programme to provide access to school for the 50,000 children officially classified as not attending is starting to bare fruit. We were told that almost 20,000 places had been registered and were being filled. We mentioned the many children we had earlier met who were being denied these places and it was agreed that more needs to be done by the Jordanian authorities to ensure that all schools take Syrian refugees regardless of them having been out of school for three years or not having official papers. We understand that great progress has been made but were keen to lobby for action for those we met who are being denied the right to an education.

We also discussed work opportunities. The UK has been pushing the Jordanian Government to grant more work visas to Syrian refugees. Over a three year period, 200,000 work visas will be granted and 26,000 have so far been delivered. The Syrian refugees are entrepreneurial and hard working and want to take the opportunities which present themselves in Jordan.

With the opportunity to work, and educate their children, the view is offered that Syrian refugees will not want to leave for Europe but will make a new opportunity for themselves in Jordan until the climate permits them to return back home to Syria. This makes the UK's aid programme so crucial.

We also discussed the Berm, a no-mans land on the Syrian/Jordanian border. Tens of thousands of Syrian refugees have fled into this desert. With the border now closed in to Jordan, we are concerned that aid cannot get through to these people and, being the last to cross, they are unlikely to be able to fend for themselves. As winter approaches in the Berm, their situation will become even more desperate. We understand that the huge influx of Syrian refugees makes opening the border for more entrants into Jordan to be difficult to achieve if the relative harmony in Jordan is to be protected. However, we would like to see the UK play a leading role to persuade the Jordanians to open up access to aid delivery in the Berm.

It is refreshing to hear the view from the department that the provision of education and employment opportunities here in Jordan is likely to see Syrian refugees avoiding the choice of making a perilous journey across the sea to Europe. It is crucial that these people are afforded the opportunity to make a better life for themselves in Jordan before, we hope, being able to return home once peace overcomes the terrible war in Syria.

Huw Merriman MP

Victoria Prentis MP