HERE is the letter sent by members of Glasgow City Council and MPs urging the Home Secretary to act after it emerged that Serco plans to evict more than 300 asylum seekers.
Dear Mr Javid,
As members of Glasgow City Council and Parliament, we are co-signing this letter to express our deep concern at the imminent eviction by Serco of potentially hundreds of asylum seekers currently housed in the city.
We share the view that this action by your accommodation provider will trigger a humanitarian crisis in Glasgow, leaving an estimated 300 already vulnerable men, women and children destitute.
Despite the local authority’s status as a Home Office partner in the asylum dispersal programme, there was no meaningful engagement with Serco prior to its announcement that it would commence changing the locks of the accommodation of those who have not been granted refugee status.
READ MORE: Home Secretary and Serco under growing pressure over Glasgow asylum seekers
This is despite the on-going engagement from Leader of Glasgow City Council, Cllr Susan Aitken, and Cllr Jennifer Layden City Convener for Equalities and Human Rights, and assurances given by your department that communication and engagement from your asylum accommodation contractors would improve. Glasgow’s Members of Parliament have also raised a number of questions, highlighting concerns about the operation of the current asylum accommodation contract and the flawed tendering process for the new one.
We would have expected significantly better consultation with key stakeholders about this shift in policy and the failure to engage has left us disappointed in the process that has been followed.
READ MORE: The letter Serco sent regarding the asylum seekers it plans to evict
This failure on the part of Serco, and indeed the Home Office, has left the city’s voluntary sector totally unprepared for the expected demand from those affected for accommodation. As you will be aware, under the current arrangements, Glasgow City Council is prohibited from providing asylum accommodation. This planned action is wholly unacceptable, not least due to the imminent risk of significant harm to a vulnerable group and the acceleration in demands on already hard-pressed Glasgow public and third sector bodies.
We stand collectively for treating people fairly, and with decency, dignity and respect and we do not think that locking vulnerable people out of their homes ascribes to these values. The evidence in Glasgow over a number of years now is that the policy, as carried out by Serco as the contract holder, of evicting people who have exhausted the asylum process is far less likely to lead to their voluntarily leaving the UK than it is to their joining the city’s homeless and rough sleeper populations, further increasing their vulnerability and significantly adding to the pressures on services provided by the organisations who work in the frontline in this field.
READ MORE: Evicting asylum seekers is a disgrace and should be stopped immediately
We hereby call on you, as Home Secretary, to instruct Serco to cease the lock change and eviction programme with immediate effect. We also call on you to meet with us to discuss a fair, appropriate and measured way to work together with all partners to ensure that asylum seekers who have not been given leave to remain are not plunged in to unnecessary vulnerability and hardship. It is crucial that effective support is provided to the statutory and voluntary agencies in Glasgow who have to deal with the ongoing impact this policy has on the city and the demands it makes on services.
Yours sincerely,
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here