Asylum seeker and refugee evictions from state-contracted housing providers: FOI release

Information requested

1. Please provide the total number of people with any of the following immigration statuses who have been evicted from accommodation provided by state-contracted housing providers in Scotland from 1 January 2020 to the present:

Asylum seeker.

Refugee.

Person granted humanitarian protection.

Person granted leave to remain (including discretionary leave or limited leave).
 
2. For each eviction, where available, please provide:

The date or date range of eviction.

The name of the contracted housing provider.

The local authority area.

The stated reason for eviction.
 
3. Whether alternative accommodation was provided by the Scottish Government or local authority. A list of all housing providers contracted by or through the Scottish Government to provide accommodation to the above groups since 1 January 2020, including any changes to contracts (e.g. termination, handovers).
 
If the Scottish Government does not hold this information directly but another body does (e.g. local authorities or the Home Office), please advise and provide any relevant contact details where possible.

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have asked for because:-

• We do not administer schemes relating to asylum or UKG refugee programmes.
• We do not hold any information on ‘evictions’ relating to the above immigration statuses.

This is a formal notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have requested.

As asylum and immigration are reserved to the UK Parliament and handled by the Home Office as previously mentioned, you may wish to contact the Home Office at foirequests@homeoffice.gov.uk to find out whether there is any information which they would be able to provide in relation to your request.

We have provided some information relation to displaced persons from Ukraine who as part of the Scottish Super sponsor programme have been offered immediate temporary accommodation (known as Welcome Accommodation).

Since the war against Ukraine began, over 28,000 people sponsored by an individual in Scotland or the Scottish Government have arrived in the UK. Over 21,000 of these arrivals are through the Scottish Government successful Super Sponsor Scheme 

As part of the Warm Scots Welcome, we offered immediate temporary welcome accommodation to those newly arrived from Ukraine under the Scottish Super Sponsor scheme. Temporary Welcome accommodation was procured through our accommodation contractor, Corporate Travel Management.

Statistics relating to the utilisation of welcome accommodation can be found Ukraine: analysis and statistics - gov.scot

A key priority of the Warm Scots Future programme is helping people access longer-term housing and reduce the reliance on welcome accommodation recognising that prolonged stays in welcome accommodation can have a negative impact on health and wellbeing.   

The emergency arrangements for welcome accommodation are not statutory and do not diminish guests wider statutory housing rights. The ‘move on policy’ relating to welcome accommodation is not a statutory process and therefore not recognised as ‘eviction’.

Annex A sets out details of the guidance on the utilisation of Welcome accommodation including information on the process for Ukrainian guests move on from Welcome accommodation.

The attached spreadsheet is the data that the Scottish Government holds in relation to the application of the policy that provides guests with 60 days’ notice to leave temporary welcome accommodation following their refusal to accept reasonable offers of longer-term accommodation.

The outcome for guests moving on from welcome accommodation who have been issued with a 60-day notice is not held by the Scottish Government as it is the responsibility of Local Authorities continue to support guests to explore their housing options during this period and beyond. Possible outcomes can include guests arranging their own onwards accommodation arrangements or being successful with housing applications within their current or neighbouring local authority area.

You may also find information which has already been published under previous information requests, as part of statistical releases, or otherwise made available on the UK Government website. Including quarterly immigration system statistics data tables: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/immigration-system-statistics-data-tables

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

FOI 202500472266 - Information released - Annex A

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