Transport Secretary Grant Shapps welcomed the family this weekend
(Picture: PA Wire)Grant Shapps has announced he has taken in a “three-generation” Ukrainian family to his home.
The Transport Secretary, said the family, along with their dog, had now joined him at his Hertfordshire home after fleeing the war in their home country.
Last month, Mr Shapps confirmed to The Times, he was taking the family in as part of the Homes for Ukraine scheme.
The family will be housed in one his children’s bedrooms while they are away at university.
The Transport Secretary said: “Today we're delighted to welcome a three-generation Ukrainian family, along with their dog Max, to live with us in our home.
Today we're delighted to welcome a three-generation Ukrainian family, along with their dog Max, to live with us in our home. Whilst their country goes through the turmoil of Putin's war, our country stands resolutely with the people of Ukraine.
— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) April 17, 2022
“Whilst their country goes through the turmoil of Putin's war, our country stands resolutely with the people of Ukraine.”
Mr Shapps previously said he was taking in a six-year-old boy, his mother and his 75-year-old grandmother.
Speaking to the Chopper’s Politics podcast, he called on the Home Office to stop forcing children to fill out separate forms to come to the UK and allow them to be filled out in Ukrainian.
The Newark MP’s family welcomed Maria, 40, and her two children, Christina, 11, and Boden, 15, at Stansted airport earlier this week.
He said he had not done anything to speed up the process, saying it was right the scheme makes British sponsors be their own match-makers for those they may wish to host.
However, he told the podcast: “I do think the process has been overly bureaucratic and I think the Home Office often falls into this trap.
“There were simple things that we could and should have done from the outset, like having the form in Ukrainian, for example.
“And I’m not sure whether you need to be doing checks on minors who are extremely unlikely to be a threat to this country.”
As of April 13, 94,700 visa applications have been recieved by the government. A further 56,500 visas have been issued, while 16,400 of those people have arrived in the UK.
