NO more asylum seekers will be sent to Scotland by the Home Office as the country’s biggest council tries to “ease the pressures” on the city after last week’s attack, the Sunday National can reveal.
The temporary arrangement comes as Glasgow City Council seeks to ensure government contractor Mears Group finds “suitable” new homes for the almost 400 people currently housed in local hotels.
They include those affected by the knife attack at the Park Inn hotel, in which six people were injured.
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Sudanese asylum seeker Badreddin Abdlla Adam, 28, was shot dead by police and investigations into the Friday afternoon incident continue.
However, it is understood that other asylum seekers from the hotel – one of six being used during the pandemic in a decision Mears said would offer better coronavirus protections than the continued use of private flats – had warned authorities about his mental state the night prior to the violence.
Glasgow has not shut its doors. This is a temporary pause to ease pressure on the system.
One victim, PC David Whyte, has been released from hospital. The others include asylum seekers and hotel staff, with the youngest injured aged just 17.
Agencies including the Scottish Refugee Council repeatedly voiced concerns about the impact of the shift, which saw £35-per-week financial support withdrawn. City politicians also condemned it, with the SNP’s Patrick Grady stating that “what asylum seekers have experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic is the ‘hostile environment’ at its absolute worst”.
Glasgow is the only city in Scotland which welcomes asylum seekers under a Home Office-directed dispersal scheme.
The Sunday National can reveal that this will temporarily cease after council leaders asked the Home Office not to take any more people there until the hotel residents are moved out and into “suitable accommodation” by Mears.
A council source said: “Glasgow has not shut its doors. This is a temporary pause to ease pressure on the system.”
In 2018, Glasgow had the highest number of dispersed asylum seekers in the UK and took in more than 4000 in the year to June 2019 – while 150 other UK council areas accepted none.
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Under the change, any families, women or children who make their own way to Glasgow to will be allowed to stay. However, single men will be sent elsewhere in the UK.
The measure will be reviewed weekly and the council – which sought to take on the 10-year asylum accommodation contract before it was awarded to Mears last year – says it remains committed to supporting this diverse community.
Many of the city’s “New Scots” are refugees who came to the UK seeking asylum, with active Kurdish, Afghan and other groups engaging in outreach work during the pandemic.
This includes Glasgow Afghan United, which has distributed food aid to recipients across national, ethnic and religious lines. Chairperson Abdul Bostani said around 600 parcels of groceries, toiletries and other basic supplies had been provided, while its English, health and wellbeing, and women’s education classes went online to provide additional support to black, Asian and minority ethnic residents.
We have agreed with the Home Office that, temporarily, no-one will be dispersed to Glasgow.
Writing in the Glasgow Times newspaper on Wednesday, council leader Susan Aitken said multi-culturalism had “flourished” in the city, but called for local authorities to be “given the tools to provide support for asylum seekers”.
Setting out the change to the Sunday National, the council said: “Glasgow has always welcomed asylum seekers and will continue to do so.
“However, in light of the incident last Friday and the current pressures on the system, we have agreed with the Home Office that, temporarily, no-one will be dispersed to Glasgow. For the moment, single males who come to Glasgow under their own steam will also be redirected to other dispersal areas across the UK.
“Glasgow will continue to welcome families, women and children who arrive spontaneously and the temporary agreement with the Home Office will be reviewed weekly.
“This will enable us to ensure we have access to the Mears’ exit strategy for asylum seekers who are currently accommodated in hotels and ensure that appropriate plans are in place.
“This decision has not been taken lightly. It is a responsible and temporary move designed to ease some of the pressures in the city at the moment and to assist Mears to source suitable accommodation for the asylum seekers currently in hotels.”
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Solicitor Sarah McKeeve, of Katani & Co, said her client, a 20-year-old from Namibia, had already been moved from Scotland under the change. The “vulnerable” man made his way to Glasgow to join a growing community of Namibians, including those from his tribal community, and has now been taken to Newcastle, where he knows nobody.
McKeeve said she is “very sympathetic to any attempts that Glasgow City Council, Mears or the Home Office make to try to improve the situation” in Glasgow and “avoid housing individuals in inappropriate or even sub-standard conditions” – an issue that became a scandal under previous contractor Serco.
But she says the “single male” category is “simply far too broad to take proper account of other, highly relevant, vulnerabilities and factors such as a person’s age, support needs and general background” which can cover experience of torture or other abuses.
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