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South Lanarkshire Council has helped resettle 46 Syrian families since December 2015.
In total, 170 individuals including children born here - have been helped to escape the civil war which has seen almost 13 million people displaced.
On Wednesday, October 30, refugee resettlement programme advisor Andrea Sinclair spoke to the council’s equal opportunities forum about the resettlement programme.
She said: “The families are geographically all over South Lanarkshire. Up to 240 individuals will be resettled in South Lanarkshire by March 2020.
“It is a big learning curve for them and for us. The job is really about thinking if you went to a foreign country and had nothing, what would you need.
“We work with families for what they need us for but the average is between six or 12 months.”
The Syrian Civil War began in March 2011 and the UK began resettling refugees in December 2015.
By March 2020, up to 3000 Syrians will have been re-homed in Scotland through the resettlement scheme which is funded by the Home Office.
Andrea outlined the process South Lanarkshire’s four-man resettlement team go through to help refugees settle in to their new homes.
She said: “It can take a while, lots of work goes into it. It can be quite a slow process.”
For the 5.6 million refugees of the conflict, the majority are currently in neighbouring countries including Turkey and Lebanon.
For those who are resettled in the
UK, the process starts long before they step foot on a plane. Lots of paper work has to be filled out and the resettlement team liaise with the Home Office to find out about the family.
The resettlement team then contact the housing department, registered social landlords and the police to find a suitable home.
Health services, schools and the DWP are all contacted to identify any issues that may crop up.
An intensive two-week period follows when the families arrive. That can include emergency health treatment if any unknown problems come to light.
Bank accounts are opened and benefits applied for so the family have a source of income until they can settle in and get jobs.
If necessary, English lessons are set up and help to quit smoking offered as the cost of smoking in Scotland is far greater than in Syria.
Andrea said the neighbours had been “fantastic” and that had helped the families settle in.
A number have already gone into employment – including two with the council – or obtained an apprenticeship.
Several have gone to college and university to further their studies and one was named the British Heart Foundation’s volunteer of the year.
The “Syrian Scots” as Andrea calls them keep in touch with each other over Whatsapp and they have been so grateful to their new communities that many give up their time to help out.
South Lanarkshire has played a lead role in aiding refugees from Syria.
The local authority’s executive committee previously 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 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.
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.
New families arriving are offered an intensive induction package as part of the Ongoing learning programme, consisting of three hours tuition for nine days, over three weeks, to help develop daily living language skills.
■ Since March 2011, over five million Syrians have fled their country
■ More than six million Syrians are internally displaced
■ Over 13 million people inside Syria require humanitarian assistance, including nearly six million children
■ At the end of 2017, more than half the country’s hospitals, clinics and primary health care centres were partially functioning or had been damaged beyond repair
■ The United Nations has called for $4.4 billion to help five million refugees in neighbouring countries in 2018-2019
■ Filippo Grandi, UNHCR High Commissioner, said: “Syria is the biggest humanitarian and refugee crisis of our time.”