Clarification on housing people seeking asylum: Letter to UK Government

To: Alex Norris MP, Minister of State for Border Security & Asylum

From: Shirley-Anne Somerville, Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice

 

Dear Alex,

I appreciated the opportunity to meet with you this morning to discuss the concerns I raised in my earlier correspondence on Cameron Barracks.

As I flagged, I am disappointed that the manner in which this announcement was made has increased local concerns and given rise to a heightened risk of misinformation locally. There is an opportunity now however to clarify the Home Office’s intentions through urgent answers to outstanding questions. This will help Highland Council, local delivery partners and members of the public to better understand any local impacts.

I have not received answers to the questions that I posed in my letter to the Home Secretary last week and this information is urgently required:

• The suitability of the site to provide adequate accommodation and support for this cohort of people seeking asylum;
• The anticipated high level of support needs that these new arrivals will have and the pressure this will create on local services, particularly health services;
• The need for reassurance that full wrap around support services will be provided on site and how capacity of local third sector services will be built to provide this;
• How potential increases in local community tensions will be managed and what plans are in place to support local community cohesion impacted by this decision and the lack of engagement.
• What financial support will be made available to cover the increased costs that will fall on local public services as a result of this decision.

Scotland has a long history of welcoming refugees and people seeking asylum and we know that this goes well when all partners are engaged early in the planning. The provision of healthcare presents one of the largest challenges and we are currently unclear on how health screening, the provision of mental health support and primary/secondary healthcare will be provided and the impact that this is expected to have on local services.

Our expectation is these services will be provided on site and further details about the delivery model and the contract being put in place to deliver this is needed to reassure local service providers. It is also essential that full wrap around support can be provided on site and we would welcome further details about plans for this.

You mentioned that people will arrive in a phased manner, and we would urge that this is given further consideration to allow lessons to be learnt and for unintended impacts to be monitored and managed.

Where additional pressures are placed on local services, we would expect that Home Office will provide additional funding to the services affected so that this decision does not detrimentally affect the level of service provision available to local people.

I firmly believe that a clear message from Home Office on these points will go some way to reassure the local community and local partners.

I welcome your commitment to a constructive ministerial bi-lateral relationship going forward including formal advance notification of future announcements in the asylum and resettlement space. I look forward to further engagement with you on this matter and on future reform to the asylum system.

Given that my concerns have been outstanding for some time, I requested in our meeting earlier that I receive urgent answers to these questions by close today. This information is needed in advance of the full Council meeting taking place on Thursday and to counter growing misinformation. The sooner that can be provided, the earlier we can reassure delivery partners and the general public.

Yours sincerely,
SHIRLEY-ANNE SOMERVILLE