More than 70 Visas have so far been issued in Shropshire under the Homes for Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme, new figures show.

The data, published by the Home Office and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities, shows that the county is among the counties to have seen the fewest Visas issued.

In neighbouring Powys, 10 Visas have been issued, 53 have been handed out in Cheshire West and Chester, and 42 in Herefordshire.

The scheme allows Ukrainian nationals and their family members to come to the UK if they have a named sponsor.

The Home Secretary has apologised “with frustration” over the time it is taking for Ukrainian refugees to arrive in the UK under visa schemes.

But Priti Patel denied visa requirements and checks are slowing the process and causing delays, insisting the UK will “absolutely see changes in numbers” as work continues.

Around 12,000 people had arrived in the UK under Ukraine visa schemes as of Tuesday, according to Home Office figures.

Some 10,800 people had arrived under the Ukraine family scheme but only 1,200 had made it to the UK as part of the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme, provisional data published on the department’s website shows.

Visas have been issued to local authorities based on the postcode of the sponsor’s address, or of the accommodation address if the applicant is not staying with the sponsor.

Not all records of visas have a postcode that has been mapped to a local authority area, but the number of records excluded is less than 1%.

The data is provisional and is likely to include some duplicate records, so may not be an exact record of the number of individuals who have been issued visas.

The data does not contain the number of visas issued through the Ukraine Family Scheme, which allows applicants to join family members or extend their stay in the UK.

The list has been ordered by the number of visas issued per local authority area, starting with the highest number.