New Scots Core Group Minutes: December 2024

Attendees and apologies

• Alison Phipps, University of Glasgow (Chair)
• Phil Arnold, British Red Cross (online)
• Gayle Finlay (COSLA)
• Claire Donaghey, Glasgow Clyde College
• Madhi Saki, Mental Health Foundation
• Kevin Campbell, Public Health Scotland
• Rowan Moodie, Scottish Faiths Action for Refugees
• Jenny Kehoe, Scottish Government
• Mandy Watts, Scottish Government
• Gary Christie, Scottish Refugee Council
• Elodie Mignard, Scottish Refugee Council
• Hugh Neill, SLAED People Group
• 8 representatives with Lived Experience 
• Callum Mcdonald, Scottish Refugee Council (Secretariat)
• Gabriella Poli, Scottish Government (Secretariat - Minutes)Aakanksha Bisht, Scottish Refugee Council

Guest

• Aakanksha Bisht, Scottish Refugee Council

Apologies

• Karen McIntyre, Bridges Programmes
• Wafa Shaheen, Scottish Refugee Council
• Police Scotland 

Items and actions

Welcome and introductions

• AP welcomed members to the first meeting under the new arrangements and thanked members for agreeing to be part of the group. She noted that GP and CM will also be attending Core Group as joint secretariat
• AP explained to members that she and partners are pleased that we have expanded the membership of this group to better reflect both the lived and learned experience we have across Scotland
• AP highlighted that many members are not working in their first, second or third language and for members to please let her or the secretariat know if words or acronyms used are not understood, so that these can be explained
• AP also noted apologies from KM from Bridges Programmes and from Police Scotland who were unable to attend today’s meeting
• session began with an icebreaker so that members could introduce themselves to get to know each other

Minutes/ action points from meeting on 1 May 

• those members who had attended the previous meeting on 1 May 2024, approved the minutes as an accurate record of that meeting
• AP explained to members that minutes of each meeting will be published on the Scottish Government website, following their sign-off by this group at the subsequent meeting

New Scots Overview 

• as many of the members are new to the group, AP provided an overview of the New Scots Refugee Integration Strategy and Delivery Plan from the outset until now. She highlighted key changes in the third iteration and provided the group with the opportunity to seek clarity on any points needed

Actions:

•  action 1 - GP to circulate slides on the New Scots strategy overview to members following the meeting
•  action 2 - GF to update the paper that she previously co-produced which provides an overview of the humanitarian protection routes in Scotland so that this can be shared at the next meeting
•  action 3 - SRC to produce a glossary of commonly used terms and acronyms on asylum and refugee matters
• action 4 - GP to circulate a link to the Ending Destitution Together strategy. This is a separate strategy, led jointly by Scottish Government and COSLA, which seeks to improve support for people with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) living in Scotland

Governance and terms of reference

• AP noted that as this is the first meeting under the new arrangements, the Core Group were being asked to review and consider the proposed terms of reference and reach an agreement, so that these can be finalised and approved.
• noting that details of the overall governance had been shared for information purposes only, JK spoke to the draft terms of reference for the group before inviting feedback from the group. While there was overall agreement, there were some additions requested to the terms of reference:
• there was a request for papers to be circulated two weeks in advance of the meeting, where possible, rather than one week
• it was noted that under the scope, the group felt that in addition to being able to suggest areas for engagement with the UK Government, this should be extended to include relevant UK Government contractors as well
• members agreed to the Terms of Reference, subject to the two amendments above. It was agreed that these will be kept under review
• discussion also touched on whether there is any additional support that the lived experience representatives might find helpful, as well as cultural differences and around whether the current membership includes the right actors to ensure the actions set out in the delivery plan, including housing and health, can be delivered. There was also a question about opportunities for engagement between this group and the New Scots Leadership Board and it was noted that the New Scots partners are already considering what possibilities there are for engagement between the Leadership Board and stakeholders in 2025

Actions:

•   action 5 - GP and CM to update Terms of Reference to include the two additions requested by the group above
•   action 6 - CM and AB to consider ongoing support for lived experience members, including liaising with partners to discuss any additional training and support that could be made available
• action 7 - Partnership group to consider whether there are additional organisations it would be helpful to invite to become members of this group, particularly in terms of delivering the actions on housing and health

Update from Regional Integration Networks and Refugee Support Service 

• CM gave an overview of the regional integration networks coordinated by Scottish Refugee Council’s Refugee Support Service, as well as an update on the work of the Refugee Support Service itself between April and August 2024
• the updates were welcomed by the group, with EM providing reassurance that RSS complies with GDPR requirements and service users are made aware of how their data is used

Actions:

• action 8 - EM to include a breakdown of numbers of RSS users by Local Authority (where this is possible) in future reporting on this item
• action 9 - EM to ensure that as part of RSS delivery, SRC continues to consider how best to signpost to and promote existing and new resources available on their websites

  Update on wider actions under the delivery plan to date 

•  JK provided an update to the group on work underway across a number of actions under the Delivery Plan involving Scottish Government. This included the Asylum Right to Work Pilot (Action 3.5), A Guide to Scots Law Booklet (Action 1.6), work on Statelessness (Action 5.7), the coordination of work with the Ending Destitution Together Strategy (Action 5.2.1) and on ESOL (Action 2.2)
• it was noted that while the draft Scottish Budget 2025-2026 presented to Parliament on 4 December includes a proposal to extend free bus travel to people seeking asylum in the 2025-26 financial year, the budget is subject to Parliamentary approval. The Parliament is expected to begin voting on the budget in February and further information will be provided in due course

 Actions:

• action 10- GP to circulate links to the recently published Scottish Asylum Right to Work Proposal
• action 11 - ALL MEMBERS wishing to nominate potential members for the ESOL working group (who have strategic delivery and/or academic experience of ESOL), to send these to JK by COP Friday 13 December

Any other business  

• MW provided an update on Ukraine resettlement work, including on the UK Government’s new Ukraine Permission Extension scheme, which will open to applications in February 2025 
• AP thanked GC and WS for all of their tireless and invaluable work to support New Scots over the last two decades and confirmed this will be their last meeting as members of this group, as they are both leaving their roles at SRC later this month

Actions: 

• action 12 - all members to consider what format would be most useful in terms of how information is presented when reporting on delivery plan actions and let GP and CM know by 31 January
• action 13 - CD and JK to provide an update on ESOL at the next meeting