Minister says UK has ‘proud record’ of protecting asylum seekers
A JUNIOR Home Office minister said the department is “proud” of its record in protecting vulnerable asylum seekers.
Despite allowing more than 300 asylum seekers to be moved from their temporary homes into hotels by a private contractor, Chris Philp MP said the country has “an extremely proud record” of protecting vulnerable refugees.
His comments came in response to questions by SNP MPS in the House of Commons about what assessments had been done on support and accommodation for asylum seekers during the Covid-19 outbreak.
Campaigners have repeatedly raised concerns about problems in Glasgow, where one man took his own life in a hotel room and another stabbed numerous people before being shot by armed police at another city-centre hotel.
Patrick Grady, Glagow North MP, said the decision by contractor Mears to relocate the asylum seekers in Glasgow had “significantly damaged trust in the system”.
He said: “To rebuild that trust, there has to be an independent review and lessons learned, so what steps is he taking to ensure that that happens?”
Mr Philp said he had met Susan
Aitken, the leader of Glasgow City Council, and Glasgow MPS to discuss concerns about accommodation, adding: “I have asked Home Office officials to look into those urgently and report back to me.”
MP Marion Fellows challenged the minister over why no safeguarding policy was in place for contractors who responsible for housing vulnerable people.
She said: “The requirements to safeguard vulnerable people are vital, yet the recent National Audit Office report discloses that the contract fails to provide for proper monitoring or sanctions for breaches.”
Joanna Cherry MP also challenged the minister over safeguarding and vulnerability assessments.
She said: “Asylum seekers are, by their very nature, vulnerable people, with many of them being survivors of trafficking or ill- treatment, including torture. Under the existing Home Office contracts with private companies, it is possible for those companies to shove hundreds of these asylum seekers into hotels without doing proper individual assessments of their vulnerabilities.”
Mr Philp said the department had been “studying the report very carefully” and added: “We do monitor carefully the way the contractors operate. Where concerns are raised we look into them and investigate them seriously. That is what we are doing in the case of Glasgow.”
Mr Philp also said that more than 100 aslyum seekers were deemed too vulnerable to be relocated based on assessments.
In response to Ms Cherry, he said: “She made a more general point about taking care of people who are vulnerable. This country has an extremely proud record in this area: last year, we made 20,000 grants of asylum or protection.”