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ASYLUM SEEKERS IN SCOTLAND

CHAPTER SIX: OTHER LOCAL AUTHORITIES

6.1 INTRODUCTION

During the course of our work, three other local authorities have been in the process of negotiating contracts with NASS to take asylum seekers. These authorities have been proceeding in ways which attempt to learn lessons from the experiences of other authorities, including Glasgow and authorities elsewhere in the UK.

The three authorities concerned are Edinburgh City Council, Fife Council and West Dunbartonshire Council and in each case, we interviewed key personnel. Interviews focused on preparation for the arrival of the asylum seekers and how they had drawn on experiences elsewhere, learning from good practice. The interviews also explored the support which councils have received from SASC and other relevant agencies. Any relevant lessons for the future were also to be identified.

6.2 THE STAGE NEGOTIATIONS HAD REACHED

There appeared to be something of a standstill in negotiations, while details, including legal points were finalised. Strategies had been agreed by the authorities but there was a feeling that NASS had been slow to respond to issues which had been raised. Negotiations had often been conducted through SASC, rather than with NASS directly and this had slowed things down.

Negotiations stalled in Edinburgh because of the Home Office's decision to consider Airwest, formally RAF Turnhouse (at Edinburgh Airport) as an accommodation centre for 750 asylum seekers. The City Council has taken the view that, while these asylum seeker families would not be based directly in the city, there would inevitably be an impact on local services. Teachers, health workers and interpreters would be required to work there, while asylum seekers at Turnhouse who received a positive decision to remain in the UK might then be looking for long term accommodation in the Edinburgh area. The Council was therefore of the view that the situation regarding Turnhouse required to be resolved, before it finalised contracts with NASS. In other cases, subsequent events illustrated the stop-start nature of negotiations.

Fife City Council finally withdrew from negotiations with NASS after being unable to reach agreement over levels of funding. The Council claimed that with the funding proposed it would be unable to provide quality care for asylum seekers without making cuts in other services.

6.3 THE LOCAL PROVIDERS GROUP

The local authorities concerned had assembled a core team (or 'Corporate Steering Group') which covered all the main areas of service provision, both within the authority and from outside (including the Health Board and the police). The aim was to be as wide-ranging as possible. In Fife, the Education Department had not initially been involved in the core team as it had been expected that most of the asylum seekers to be located there would be single people. Fife had now established that almost all would be families and, now it was clear that children were involved, the Education Department had been included.

The voluntary sector was not always included at the early stages, although it was assumed that voluntary agencies, local minority ethnic groups and the Scottish Refugee Council would eventually become part of the core team

6.4 ISSUES REGARDING COLLABORATION AND CO-ORDINATION

Authorities were involved in what was described as a 'gearing-up' process, designed to ensure that all the services were in place. West Dunbartonshire had specifically identified a lead-in period of six months, from which they were determined not to deviate. In Edinburgh, the city had already dealt with around 100 asylum seekers who had arrived there independently, so some support packages were already in place, and the Council believed that they had worked hard over a long period to ensure good co-ordination between agencies. A particular example is a 'roadshow', developed by the Education Department, in conjunction with the Scottish Refugee Council and the Edinburgh and Lothians Refugee Forum, which has toured primary and secondary schools in the city. It has been used to inform school pupils about the plight of refugees and asylum seekers, and the possible implications of asylum seekers moving into their area. Subsequent presentations were then made at some of the city's F.E. colleges.

Some areas of service delivery appeared to be more advanced than others in terms of their preparation. Health was identified as being less prepared than some other areas, although this could vary. West Dunbartonshire dealt with two Health Boards, one of which, Greater Glasgow, already had the experience of providing services to asylum seekers. The other, Argyll and Clyde, was less informed about the issues.

There was seen to be a need to involve the voluntary sector at a reasonably early stage, to help support the work of the statutory services.

6.5 ADVICE IN PROGRAMME DEVELOPMENT

It was thought to be extremely important to obtain advice from authorities currently involved in housing asylum seekers. SASC had been a prime source of information, as well as Glasgow City Council, and the three 'new' authorities had attended a number of meetings with SASC. The experience of Glasgow City Council in relation to their NASS contract had also helped to inform the other authorities.

English authorities had also been contacted, however. West Dunbartonshire had looked at the work of authorities like Kent, while Fife had identified Leeds as a model of good practice and saw their approach as being a 'Scottish Leeds' model.

This model is based on the practice of not taking asylum seekers directly to their long-term housing accommodation from the reception centre. Instead, Fife Council had identified ten properties in central Kirkcaldy which would act as a 'Welcome Centre'. Asylum seekers would spend time becoming familiar with the local area, meeting and being fed in a local resource centre based in a church. Only after two to three weeks would families be moved on to their long-term accommodation elsewhere in Fife. The Council felt that this approach would allow them to maximise the level of support needed in the initial period of stay.

In contrast, Edinburgh had decided to adopt the Glasgow model of placing asylum seekers in housing immediately as they believed that this would help them to become more settled more quickly.

6.6 EXPERIENCE OF NASS AND SASC

Local authorities had undertaken the bulk of negotiations with SASC, rather than NASS and had found the experience to be helpful and supportive, with SASC making available a range of material, as required. NASS staff in Scotland were also thought to be helpful but the experience of NASS's central administration in London was completely negative. They were perceived as being unhelpful, aloof, intransigent and unwilling to be flexible about contracts. It was thought that they did not appreciate the value of working in partnership with local authorities, and appeared unwilling to recognise any distinctly Scottish perspective. For example, the colder Scottish climate might result in asylum seekers requiring more expensive heating of their houses, while living costs in Edinburgh were generally higher than many English cities. This inflexibility echoes the experiences of some staff in Glasgow City Council, who have liaised with NASS over a much longer period.

A particular difficulty concerned the nature of the asylum seeker households which authorities could expect to receive. Both Fife and Edinburgh had expected that most asylum seekers would be single males but at the time of interview, they were expecting to receive a much higher proportion of families. The nature of the households would determine where they were located, the size of housing they required and the nature of services which they received, but it was suggested that NASS was unwilling or unable to provide local authorities with the information they needed to make these decisions.

Another difficulty which was highlighted was the need for SASC to refer back to NASS in the context of negotiations and this, it was felt, slowed things down considerably. It also led to some meetings with SASC being described as inconclusive and more like 'talking shops'.

It was thought that the nature of SASC would inevitably change as more local authorities accepted asylum seekers and became participants.

6.7 PREPARING FOR LOCAL PROVISION

In housing terms, the approaches of organisations varied. West Dunbartonshire had identified two localities, in Dumbarton and in Clydebank, where there would be two groupings each of 25 properties to be used for asylum seekers. Some of these, as in Glasgow, would be multi-storey flats. Fife has decided to select a larger number of smaller groupings. The Council had committed itself to making available 110 properties, of which 10 would be provided by Fife Special Housing Association. The houses were being selected on the basis of 11 clusters, each of 10 properties, mostly in the urban parts of the council area. Thus most asylum seekers would be located in Kirkcaldy, Dunfermline, Glenrothes and Levenmouth (the Methil and Leven area). Edinburgh was likely to take around 100 asylum seekers but had not finally determined which houses would be made available to them.

None of the authorities envisaged using the private housing sector at the stage when the interviews took place, although private landlords have been used in the past in Edinburgh, in relation to previous arrivals of asylum seekers in the city. In Edinburgh, referrals to housing associations were only anticipated, after asylum seekers received positive decisions to stay.

The state of readiness of Health Boards varied, with West Dunbartonshire having to work with two Boards within its area. The Greater Glasgow Board was the best prepared, building on its experience within Glasgow city.

Education Departments were beginning to prepare schools for the arrival of children of asylum seekers, while reference has already been made to Edinburgh's Education Department 'roadshow'. Social Work Departments were also preparing - particularly in the area of childcare, as one of the major problems experienced in Glasgow was that of the arrival of unaccompanied children. In West Dunbartonshire, the Arts and Leisure Department staff had been working to plan activities for newly arriving children - particularly during school holidays.

Community relations staff were working with local groups, partly to tackle what was described as 'the rumour machine'. A new organisation has been established in Fife, called 'Dignity for Asylum Seekers', which was to work with the Council to provide information, while simultaneously confronting prejudices. In Edinburgh, similarly, there had been extensive briefing meetings with local communities.

6.8 THE VOLUNTARY AND PRIVATE SECTORS

There was a widespread recognition that the voluntary sector has an important role to play and West Dunbartonshire, for example, has established a voluntary sector forum, involving existing minority ethnic groups and local churches. It was generally felt across all authorities, that the voluntary sector would become much more important once asylum seekers had actually arrived but, at the preparation stages, their role was inevitably limited.

The private sector was not seen as having a significant role at this stage, although if asylum seekers received permission to stay and their status changed, the private sector might have a role in providing accommodation as part of a 'move on' strategy.

6.9 STRATEGIC PLANNING

Strategic plans had been drawn up for each sector, with advice from SASC and from other authorities with asylum seeker experience. But authorities found it difficult to finalise these strategies, until negotiations with NASS were complete. It was also difficult to be precise about strategy, until the precise composition of asylum seeker households was known. As a result, authorities were not always able to provide agreed documents to the researchers.

6.10 EXAMPLES OF GOOD PRACTICE

Authorities believed that they were in a position to learn from other authorities and adopt certain examples of good practice. West Dunbartonshire, for example, had taken on the SASC media strategy which was important in terms of dealing with local press and rebutting negative stories about asylum seekers. They also felt that they had followed Glasgow's example in seeking to engage as much as possible with local community groups.

Both West Dunbartonshire and Fife felt that their approach to housing asylum seekers by using relatively small clusters of housing, rather than large blocks of void properties on large estates, was good practice. Fife felt that its adoption of the Leeds model allowed it to take on board good practice on helping asylum seekers to orientate themselves before being allocated to long term accommodation.

Edinburgh believed that the preparation work done in schools as part of its Education Department 'roadshow' (referred to earlier) was an example of good practice. They were also able to point to their in-house Asylum Seeker Response Unit, established in 2000, with a dedicated health worker and established referral processes between Housing and Health.

6.11 ORGANISATIONAL CAPACITY

Authorities recognised that extra staff would be required but that, until their contracts with NASS were finalised, it was not possible to appoint them. In some cases, however, job specifications had been drawn up, with SASC assistance, so advertisements could be placed quickly. Once appointed, training would be required, although some equality training with existing staff had already taken place. It was generally acknowledged that local authorities themselves would not be able to develop the various language skills which would be required and so the use of external interpreters would be required, along the lines of the Glasgow model.

Groups outwith the local authorities were being seen as contributing to the capacity for dealing with asylum seekers, and to help with things like training. In Fife, for example, FRAE (Fairness, Race, Awareness and Equality) Fife is a local Social Inclusion Partnership which aims to tackle social exclusion for isolated and marginalised black and ethnic minority communities and this was seen as an important local resource.

6.12 RELATIONS WITH THE LOCAL COMMUNITY

This was acknowledged as a particularly sensitive area, as many local people were thought to be 'a bit twitchy' about the prospect of asylum seekers coming into their areas:

There has been a reaction, with the appearance of graffiti and so on. But we've had public meetings in most of the areas and most have gone off quite peacefully. We've had meetings with the local tenants' associations and they've been 100 per cent successful. We still need to target the wider community, though we've had radio question and answer sessions and stuff in the local newspaper.

West Dunbartonshire was planning more public meetings and the setting up of community cafes, which would serve both local people and asylum seekers.

Fife Council have pointed out to any concerned tenants that asylum seekers would be treated in exactly the same way as a homeless family, in being placed initially in furnished temporary accommodation. They acknowledged that some people on the waiting list might object, however, as the granting of accommodation allocated to asylum seekers through NASS would reduce the available housing stock for general letting.

That said, there was also a groundswell of support in many areas for helping asylum seekers, and Edinburgh, for example, referred to the fact that they had been approached by several community and 'welcoming' groups, offering support. Edinburgh had worked with people who might be perceived as community leaders, such as head teachers, the police and health professionals to spread information as widely as possible.

For local authorities, there is a particular concern about the long term, if asylum seekers are given the right to remain in the UK. For example, should they be allowed to remain in the houses they occupy, where they have probably made friends and where their children attend school, even though this will create difficulties for the local authority which must then find other housing to meet their NASS contract requirements? Should asylum seekers be allowed to keep their furniture, although there is a considerable cost to the authority (of perhaps 600 per house)? How quickly can benefit details be worked out? What are the roles of other sectors, including the private sector? It is therefore seen as important, once asylum seekers start arriving, to think ahead to a 'move on' strategy and this should be discussed with local communities.

6.13 MEDIA STRATEGY

Local authorities were very conscious of the need to have a robust media strategy, with a strong principle of rebutting misleading stories.

We've taken on board all the work done by Glasgow. It's basically about putting the information out and getting the press on board. At the moment, it's mainly factual information. We've produced a leaflet that's gone out to all agencies and that will go out to households nearer the time, which addresses some of the myths about asylum seekers.

Authorities were often working with journalists on locally-based newspapers to inform them of the issues and this would seem to be a sensible strategy. Community groups have already indicated (Chapter Five) that they believe that local press are much more professional in dealing with stories and issues about asylum seekers than the national press which they accuse of 'sloppy reporting'. Use was also being made by authorities of in-house newspapers and magazines, aimed at both staff and residents.

6.14 INFORMATION PROVIDED TO ASYLUM SEEKERS

The organisations which agreed in Summer 2002 to accept asylum seekers decided to provide a Welcome Pack, on the Glasgow model. The Pack would contain translated material, information on and telephone numbers for emergency contacts, and links to interpreting services. Edinburgh had also been debating whether or not to provide asylum seekers with a mobile telephone.

In addition to the Pack, authorities involved local organisations like Race Equality Councils, local interpreting services etc, and these bodies would also be able to provide information to asylum seekers. One problem which West Dunbartonshire stated that they faced was that NASS expected asylum seekers to obtain advice through the Glasgow One-Stop Shop, whereas the Council felt it would be more helpful if they travelled to Dumbarton, to receive more local information and a more local orientation.

6.15 HOW ASPECTS OF THE PROCESS ARE WORKING

Authorities felt that, because the process was still in its early stages, it was too soon to make a judgement on how well or badly things were being handled, although the effectiveness of communication was seen by everyone as a possible cause for concern. Costs were frequently mentioned as influencing local judgements and there were comments about the need to liaise with all relevant agencies and not to be overly Council-dominated.

6.16 CONCLUDING POINTS

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