Further 100 Syrian refugees are expected during 2019

Another 100 Syrian refugees are expected to have arrived in South Lanarkshire by this time next year.

A report that went before councillors before Christmas stated that nearly 140 have already settled here.

And they were told “by the end of December 2019 it is anticipated that a further 100 individuals will reside in South Lanarkshire”.

South Lanarkshire executive committee also approved the employment of two fulltime equivalent posts, on a temporary basis, to education resources.

Costs associated with the new posts for the fixed-term of 15 months are £98,352.50, which will be fully funded through the The Syrian Refugee Resettlement Programme (SRRP) through the UK Aid budget.

As part of the agreement with the Home Office, there is a requirement that individuals over the age of 18 will receive a minimum of eight hours of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) provision per week. Council’s

And the posts will help develop the ESOL programme designed to help refugees integrate more easily into the community within South Lanarkshire.

The SRRP is designed to assist Syrians who have fled as a result of the conflict in their home country. In order to qualify, individuals or families have to be particularly vulnerable as survivors of violence and torture, women and children at risk and those needing medical care.

The UK Government initiated the SRRP in 2015 to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees in the UK within a five-year period to 2020, with funding from the from the Home Office.

The report states that 136 individuals – equating to 37 families – have resettled in the area.

New families arriving are offered an intensive induction package as part of the Ongoing Learning Programme, consisting of three weeks of three hours for three days a week to help develop daily living language skills. And the report says the programme has proved “invaluable and provides an excellent base for language development” but that this intensive package “is not sustainable” through the current ESOL staffing levels.

Crisis Refugees wait to pass through a police cordon before crossing the Greek-macedonian border near the village of Idomeni, Greece.

Desperate Syrian refugees causing total chaos, as they leave the Greek island of Lesbos

Awful Syrian refugees passing on the Syrian side of the border into Turkey

Asylum Refugees leaving Syria for Europe

HQ The council’s Almada Street base in Hamilton